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ALFRED LORD TENNYSON 



MAYKAKD'S ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES. -Nos. 2*^-2:14-235 



IDYLLS OF THE KING 






BY 



ALFEED LORD TENNYSON 



WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 



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NEW YORK 
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BIOGRAPHY 

Of Alfred Tennyson it is preeminently true that the 
events of his life took place in his intellect. It was a 
peaceful, well-ordere'd life "^^ that of this Lincolnshire 
rector's son, born August 6, 1809. His first published 
poetry was in a slim volume (1827) in partnership with 
his brother Charles. This brother, his senior by a year, 
was his close friend. Together they attended the Louth 
grammar school (1816-20), and, after being tutored by 
their father, together they "went to Trinity College, 
Cambridge (1828), where Alfred gained the Chancel- 
lor's medal by his poem Timbuctoo (1829). At Cam- 
bridge then were many choice spirits — Thackeray, 
Helps, Sterling, Kinglake, Maurice, Trench, Milnes, 
Merivale, Spedding. Tennyson's closest friend was the 
gifted young Arthur Henry Hallam, with whom he 
made a tour of the Pyrenees in their summer vacation 
(1830). Hallam's early death (1833) was the great 
sorrow of Tennyson's young manhood and the in- 
spiration of " Break, Break, Break," and In Memoriam. 
Among his other early friends were Hunt, Hare, Fitz- 
gerald, Carlyle, Gladstone, Rogers, Landor, Forster. 
These recognized his genius, but the public and critics 
generall)' were slow in doing so, and volume after volume 
of his poems met indifference, censure, ridicule. At last 
(1842) a volume containing among other noble poems 
Lockdey Hall, Ulysses, The Two Voices, and the revised 
Palace of Art convinced the English people that a new 
poet had arisen in its midst. Tennyson's ensuing years 
were^ for the most part, a progress from one literary 
triumph to another. The year 1850 was his Annus 
Mirahilis. In it he published In Memoriam, he was made 
3 



4 BIOGRAPHY 

Poet Laureate in place of the deceased Laureate, Words- 
worth, and he married Miss Emily Sellwood. The 
chief events in his later tranquil life were the publica- 
tion of various poems ; leaving his Twickenham home 
for Farringford, Isle of Wight, and later migrations to 
Aldworth in Sussex ; the birth of his sons Hallam (1852) 
and Lionel (1854:) ; and occasional journeys about Great 
Britain or on the Continent. In 1881 he w^as elevated 
to the peerage. In 1886 his younger son, Lionel, died 
on his way home from India, and October 6, 1892, the 
Poet Laureate, full of years and honors, died and was 
laid to rest in the Poet's Corner of AVestminster Abbey. 

Carlyle gives a vivid w^ord-picture of the poet at middle 
age : " One of the finest-looking men in the world. A 
great shock of rough dusky-dark hair ; bright, laughing- 
hazel eyes; massive aquiline face, most massive yet most 
delicate; of sallow brown complexion, almost Indian- 
looking ; clothes cynicall}'- loose, free-and-easy ; smokes 
infinite tobacco. His voice is musical, metallic, fit for 
loud laughter and piercing wail, and all that may lie 
between; speech and speculation free and plenteous; I 
do not meet in these late decades such company over a 
pipe." 

The Princess (1847), a midsummer day's dream, has 
yet a strong moral purpose, being Tennyson's contribu- 
tion to the discussion concerning woman'^s proper sphere. 

In Memoriam (1850) is perhaps the greatest of the 
four great English elegies. It voices the religious feel- 
ing and thought of the age. Doubts — born of woe, 
sorrow, heart-break — are overcome by triumphant faitli 
in the God who is immortal Life and hence immortal 
Love. 

Maud (1857), Tennyson's favorite among his poems, 
is generally considered the poorest. It is a lyrical mono- 
drama of love and madness. 

The Idylls of the King (1859-85) is an epic of a series 
of Idylls founded on the old British legends of King 
Arthur and the Knights of his Round Table, which 



BIOGRAPHY 5 

Tennyson imbued witli deep moral significance. " If 
this be not the greatest narrative poem since Paradise 
Lost, what other Englisli production are you to name in 
its place ? " — Stedman. 

Tennyson's genius is lyric and idyllic rather than 
dramatic. Some of his character-pieces are dramatically 
powerful, but his dramas are doubtful successes or un- 
equivocal failures. The best are Harold (1876), BecTcet 
(1879), and Queen Mary (1875), which constitute an his- 
torical trilogy on the making of England. His other 
dramas are The Falcon (1879), for the plot of which 
Tennyson was indebted to Boccaccio; The Cup (1881), 
founded on Plutarch's De Claris Mulierihiis ; The Prom- 
ise of May (1882), and The Foresters (1892), an " idyllic 
masque " of Robin Hood days. 

Poetry was to Tennyson not the pastime of an idle 
day, but the serious work of a lifetime. He pruned and 
perfected his verse until carping critics came to say it 
was too smooth. and polished, over sweet and beautiful. 
To the charge that he lacked animation and strength, 
the ringing ballad The Revenge and The Charge of the 
Light Brigade and the powerful blank verse of Ulysses 
are all-sufficient answer. Among the many perplexed 
and obscure voices of the age it behooves us to be 
thanlvful for one true man and true poet who united 
deep thought, calm wisdom, and serene faith with clarity 
of expression. 

The only authoritative biography is Tennyson's Memoir 
by his son; in the Harper edition of 1884 there is a 
pleasant biographical sketch by Mrs. Anne Thackeray 
Ritchie. There are many good critical works on Tenny- 
son — those of Brooke, Van Dyke, Dixon, Stedman, and 
others, and special studies by Gatty, Genung, Dawson, 
Robertson, Rolfe, and many more, which are all helpful 
in their degree. But the essential thing is the careful 
study of the works by which this master soul reveals 
himself to us. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sir Thomas Malory : Morte Darthur (Globe Edi- 
tion). 

M. W. Maccallum : Tennyson's Idylls of the King 
and Arthurian Story from the Sixteenth Century. 

J. Rhys : Studies in the Arthurian Legend. 

H. LiTTLEDALE : Essays on Lord Tennyson's Idylls of 
the King. 

R. Jones : The Growth of the Idylls of the King. 

H. Elsdale : Studies in the Idylls. 

S. A. Brooke : Tennyson, his Art and Relation to 
Modern Life. 

H. Van Dyke : The Poetry of Tennyson. 

M. Luce : Handbook to the Works of Alfred, Lord 
Tennyson. 

Hallam Tennyson : Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 

Dean Alfoiid : Article in Contemporary Review, 
January, 1870. 

Editor Contemporary Review: Article in Con- 
temporary Review, May, 1873. 

W. E. Wage: Alfred Tennyson, his Life and VV^orks. 

H. T. Ritchie : Records of Tennyson, Browning, and 
Ruskin. 

For fuller bibliography, see 

W. M. Dixon : A Tennyson Primer. 

Mrs. H. a. Davidson : The Study of the Idylls of 
the King. 



THE IDYLLS OF THE KING 

The Idylls of the King is a group of poems, twelve in 
number, dealing with the character and reign of King- 
Arthur, and describing the exploits of the Knights of 
the Round Table. The name Idylls, meaning " little 
pictures," was applied by the poet to these poems, each 
of which has a certain completeness in itself. 

•' The vision of Arthur as I have drawn him," said 
Tennyson, "had come upon me when, little more than a 
boy, I first lighted upon JNlalory." This was the vision 
which had inspired Spenser to write his Faerie Queene 
and which made the youthful Milton ponder an Arthu- 
rian epic, taken from "the lofty tales and romances 
which recount in solemn cantos the deeds of knight- 
hood." But the Faerie Queene was for Spenser, the epic 
of heaven and hell for Milton, and it was for our latter- 
day bard to enshrine in poetry the story of the blame- 
less king. 

Tennyson carried in his heart for a quarter of a century 
his plan of a great poem on this " greatest of all poetical 
subjects " before he definitely decided in what shape to 
embody it; and, having begun, another quarter of a cen- 
tury elapsed before he completed his work. 

The little volume of his poems published in 1832 
contained the dreamy lyric The Lady of Shalott, which 
foreshadowed the Elaine of the Idylls. Iii these two 
poems we have the same subject treated in Tennyson's 
earlier and later manner; the graceful fancy of the 
one is, in its way, as exquisite as the breadth of treat- 
ment, the richness of coloring, and the dramatic power 
of the other. A note-book of this period contains a 
rough draft of a musical masque which he meditated 
7 



8 THE IDYLLS OF THE KING 

on the same siibject. The 1812 volume contained two 
other Arthurian lyrics, Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot 
and Queen Guinevere, and also an epical fragment, the 
.Morte d' Arthur, afterward incorporated into The Pass- 
ing of Arthur, which marked the beginning of a new 
method of treatment. In 1859 Tennyson gave to the 
public four Idylls of the King, picturing four phases of 
woman character, — Enid, fair maid and loyal wife, 
Vivien the false, Elaine, " the lily maid of Astolat," and 
Queen Guinevere, erring but repentant. Enid was after- 
ward divided into two parts, Tlte Marriage of Geraint 
and Geraint and Enid. The favor with which these 
Idylls was received decided Tennyson to carry out the 
epical plan mentioned in the Morte. d' Arthur. 

Prince Albert greatly admired the Idylls and sent his 
copy to Tennyson, asking the poet to inscribe his name 
therein. The prince said, " You would thus add a pecul- 
iar interest to the book containing those beautiful songs, 
from the perusal of which I derived the greatest enjoy- 
ment. They quite rekindle the feeling with which the 
legends of King Arthur must have inspired the chivalry 
of old, whilst the graceful form in which they are pre- 
sented blends those feelings with the softer tone of our 
present age." The edition of the Idylls which appeared 
in 1862 was dedicated to the memory of the prince who 
had died a few months before. 

In 1869 were published four new Idylls, — The Coming 
of Arthur, The Holy Grail, Pelleas and Ettarre, and The 
Passing of Arthur. The Last Tournament and Garefh and 
Lynette appeared in 1872, and in 1885 appeared Balin 
and, Balan designed as an introduction to Merlin and 
Vivien. In 1888 the poems, now twelve in numbei', were 
rearranged in their final order with The Coming of Ar- 
thur as introduction, the ten poems describing the deeds 
of Arthur's knights grouped under the general head of 
The Round Table, and The Passing of Arthur as conclu- 
sion. Thus arranged their order w\as as follows : The 
Coming of Arthur, Gareth and Lynette, The Marriage of 



THE IDYLLS OF THE KING 9 

Gemint, Geraint and Enid, Bcdln and Balan, Merlin and 
Vivien, Lancelot and Elaine, The Holy Grail, Pelleas and 
Ettarre, The Last Tournament, Guinevere, and Jlie Passing 
of Arthur. Now could be seen for the first time the 
epic wholeness of the poems which groups knights and 
ladies about the central figure of Arthur as stars about 
a central sun. The epic begins with the coming of the 
king and depicts the glory of the early days of the Round 
Table when, as in Gareth and Lynette, right-minded 
youth found " the joy of life in steepness overcome and 
victories of ascent; then we see the glory darkened by 
the sin of Lancelot and Guinevere, the crime of Pelleas 
and Ettarre, the corruption of Vivien, until, resistless 
and terrible, comes the final act of the tragedy, the " last, 
dim, weii-d battle " in which the king passed away and 
the old order was overthrown. 

The poet himself calls attention to another phase of 
unity in the Idylls, which follow the round of the seasons 
as well as the course of human fortunes. " The Coming 
of Arthur is on the night of the New Year; when he 
is wedded ' the world is white with IMay'; on a summer 
night the vision of the Holy Grail appears; and the 
' Last Tournament ' is in ' the yellowing autumntide.' 
Guinevere flies through the mists of autumn, and Ar- 
thur's death takes place at midnight at midwinter. The 
form of 'The Coming of Arthur' and of the 'Passing' 
is purposely more archaic than that of the other ' Idylls.' " 

Of Gareth and Lynette, the second poem in the com- 
pleted group of the Idylls, Dr. Van Dyke says : " She 
[Lynette] judges by the senses. She cannot imagine 
that a man who comes from among the lower classes 
can possibly be a knight, and despises Gareth 's proffered 
services. But his pride, being true, is stronger than hers, 
being false. He will not be rebuffed ; follows her, fights 
her battles, wins first her admiration, then her love, and 
brings her at last to 'see that true knighthood lies not in 
the name but in the deed. 

" The atmosphere of this Idijll is altogether pure and 



10 THE IDYLLS OF THE KING 

clear. There is as yet no shadow of the storm that is 
coming to disturb Arthur's reahii. The chivah-y of the 
spirit overcomes the chivahy of the sense in a natural, 
straightforward, joyous way, and all goes well with the 
world." 

There is little or no evidence of the historical existence 
of King Arthur. Many recent critics regard him as the 
mythological or semi-mythological hero of a solar myth. 
It is probable, however, that the legends enshrined the 
memory of a real chief of the Britons, a race partly civil- 
ized and Christianized by the Romans and then overrun 
by the heathen Saxons who iu the sixth century drove 
them from their fair English fields into the mountains 
of Wales, the moors of Cornwall, and the forests of 
Brittany. King Arthur, the hero who stemmed for a 
time the tide of Saxon invasion, was honored in Keltic 
song and legend. The earliest allusion to him is in the 
Welsh bards of the seventh century, and from the Welsh 
and Breton minstrels Geoffrey of Monmouth drew ma- 
terial in 1140 for his Latin chronicle which he called 
a History of the Kings of England. Whether Arthur was 
a real king or only a solar myth, he came to be in 
English, French, and German legends of the INIiddle 
Ages the ideal of royal wisdom and knightly virtue and 
prowess. The legends about him and his knights were 
told and retold by Wace, Layamon, and others ; but they 
are best known to us of the English-speaking world 
through Morte Dcaihur, the fine prose version of Sir 
Thomas Malory. Of Malory we know only what he 
himself tells us, that he was a knight and that he 
finished his work in the ninth year of Edward IV. 
(11:69-70). The book was printed by Caxton in the 
summer of 1485. Caxton, after a naive defense of the 
historical reality of King Arthur, says: "Herein may 
be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity, friendli- 
ness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate, 
virtue, and sin. Do after the good and leave the evil, 
and it shall brinii; vou to oood fame and renommee. 



THE IDYLLS OF THE KING 11 

And for to pass the time this book shall be pleasant to 
read in, but for to give faith and belief that all is true 
that is contained herein, be ye at your liberty." 

It is not the primitive sixth century which Malory 
depicts. The old legends are set in the atmosphere of 
the Middle Ages, with their noble knights and fair 
maids and stately dames, their tournaments, and hunt- 
ing parties. Nor is historical reality attained or sought 
by Tennyson. ) He made his poem '' the epic of chivalry, 
but of a chivalry interpreted by nineteenth-century 
ideals." Not to the sixth, nor yet to the tweKth century, 
belongs the ideal of kingship as of supreme responsi- 
bility and service, j It was the poet's aim, unhampered 
by striving after historical verisimilitude, to depict 
human life in its noblest phase, "ideal manhood closed 
in real man." 

Malory had accepted and chronicled conflicting legends 
about Arthur, — those ascribing to him enormities of 
wickedness and cruelty, and those depicting him in the 
character described l)y the old chronicle, " God has 
not made since Adam was, the man more perfect than 
Arthur." Tennyson freed the story of inconsistency and 
from among the taiigled threads chose and followed 
the one which led to Arthur as the ideal man, the blame- 
less king. 

In Morte Darthur the king's downfall is represented 
as tlie consequence of a great crime which he had com- 
mitted; Tennyson attributes it to the treachery and 
crime of others, the sin of Lancelot and Guinevere, the 
corruption of Vivien, the perversion of Arthur's ideals 
by his own followers. The poem is permeated with 
deep spiritual significance, '• shadowing Sense at war 
with Soul." 

We are often told, with the poet cited as authority, 
that the Idylls of the King is an allegory in which Arthur 
represents the soul, Guinevere, love ; Vivien, passion ; 
the Lady of the Lake, religion, etc. The poet in his 
later years was often impatient of those who, as he 



12 THE IDYLLS OF THE KING 

thought, pressed the allegory too far. lie wished his 
readers to understand that while there are many alle- 
gorical passages, such as the description of the Lady of 
the Lake, there was a parabolic rather than an allegoric 
drift in the poem ; that is, as Dr. Van Dyke points out, 
abstract qualities do not represent persons, but the poem 
describes the trials, conflicts, and loves of real men and 
women in whom these qualities were living and w^orking. 

The poet himself says: "How much of history we 
have in the story of Arthur is doubtful. Let not my 
readers press too hardly on details, whether for history 
or for allegory. Some think that King Arthur may be 
taken to typify conscience. He is, anyhow, meant to be 
a man who spent himself in the cause of honor, duty, 
and self-sacrifice, w-ho felt and aspired with his nobler 
knights, though with a stronger and clearer conscience 
than any of them, ' reverencing his conscience as his 
king.' " 

The general metrical type of the Idjilh is the iambic, 
varied to suit the theme by the skillful use of trochees, 
anapests, and occasional dactyls. Tennyson's mastery 
of language, tone-color, and harmony is nowhere greater 
than in this poem. The imagery is largely from nature, 
and that from the sea is particularly strong, showing an 
intimate knowledge of its varied moods. 



CRITICAL OPINIONS 

"It seems to me that the only just estimate of Tenny- 
son's position is that which declares him to be, by emi- 
nence, the representative x:)oet of the recent era. Not, 
like one or another of his compeers, representative of 
the melody, wisdom, passion, or other partial phase of 
the era, but of the time itself, with its diverse elements 
in harmonious conjunction. . . . 

" In his verse he is as truly ' the glass of fashion and 
the mold of form ' of the Victorian generation in the 
nineteenth century as Spenser was of the Elizabethan 
court, Milton of the Protectorate, Pope of the reign of 
Queen Anne. During his supremacy there have been few 
great leaders at the head of different schools, such as 
belonged to the time of Byron, Wordsworth, and Keats. 
His poetry has gathered all the elements which find vital 
expression in the complex modern art." — Stedman's Vic- 
torian Poets. 

" To describe his command of language by any ordi- 
nary terms expressive of fluency or force would be to 
convey an idea both inadequate and erroneous. It is 
not only that he knows every word in the language 
suited to express his every idea ; he can select with the 
ease of magic the word that above all others is best for 
his purpose ; nor is it that he can at once summon to his 
aid the best word the language affords; with an art 
which Shakspere never scrupled to apply, though in our 
day it is apt to be counted mere Germanism, and pro- 
nounced contrary to the genius of the language, he com- 
bines old words into new ej^ithets, he daringly mingles 
all colors to bring out tints that never were on sea or 
shore. His words gleam like pearls and opals, like rubies 
13 



14 CRITICAL OPINIONS 

and emeralds. He yokes the stern vocables of the Eng- 
lish tongue to the chariot of his imagination, and they 
become gracefully brilliant as the leopards of Bacchus, 
soft and glowing as the Cytherean doves. He must have 
been born with an ear for verbal sounds, an instinctive 
appreciation of the beautiful and delicate in w^ords, hardly 
ever equaled. Though his later works speak less of the 
blossom-time — show less of the efflorescence and irides- 
cence, and mere glance and gleam of colored words — 
they display no falling off, but rather an advance, in the 
mightier elements of rhythmic speech.'' — Peter Bayne. . 

" The formal restrained poetry of Wordsworth wedded 
itself to the melody and color of Keats and Shakspere 
and the vigor of Byron, and the result was Tennyson." 
— WaugJi. 

" As long as the English language is spoken, the 
word-music of Tennyson will charm the ear; and when 
p]nglish has become a dead language, his wonderful con- 
centration of thought into luminous speech, the exquisite 
X>ictures in which he has blended all the hues of reflec- 
tion, feeling, and fancy will cause him to be read as w^e 
I'ead Homer, Pindar, and Horace." — George Eliot. 

" I ranked Tennyson in the first order, because with 
great' mastery over his material, — words, — great plastic 
power of versification, and a rare gift of harmony, he had 
also vision or insight, and because feeling intensely the 
great questions of the day — not as a mere man of letters, 
but as a man — he is to some extent the interpreter of 
his age, not only in its mysticism which [I tried to show 
you] is the necessary reaction from the rigid formulas of 
science and tlie earthliness of an age of work, into the 
vagueness which belongs to infinitude, but also in his 
poetic and almost prophetic solution of some of its great 
questions." — F. W. Robertson. 

" So truly did the Laureate represent the country in 
which he lived his long and noble life that in perhaps 
no w^ay could a foreigner get to understand the spirit of 
the English people better than by making a close and 



CRITICAL OPINIONS 15 

careful study of his poems, considering the thought and 
emotion there as largely typical of the race. He would 
meet with some things in Maud, for instance, which 
would lead him astray, but very little in the other poems. 
He would certainly be far more likely to gain a correct 
notion of England thus than by the perusal of a dozen 
ordinary superficial books of travel. Yet Tennj^son is 
the only poet who could be read by a foreigner with this 
end in view. Shakspere might assist him so^mewhat, but 
Shakspere's men and women are too much ' citizens of 
the world ' to be of aid in studying England merely. 
Spenser would give him few suggestions. Milton's sub- 
lime but lonely egotism would lead him astray. The 
more modern poets would give false conceptions. Byron 
through his false and un-English standards of life ; 
Shelley through his inability to cope with his own en- 
thusiasms and through his tendency to sublime idealiz- 
ing ; Browning because he was too busy telling the world 
what all men and women thought to pay much attentiou 
to what the English peoj^le were or did. ]Moreover, these 
three poets did not live enough of their lives in England 
to understand thoroughly the popular feelings among 
their countrymen ; all were to a greater or less degree 
wanderers on the face of the earth, in strong contrast to 
Tennyson, who spent far the greater portion of his long 
life at home. Mr. Arthur, in his valuable and interest- 
ing work on Tennyson, claims place for him as the great- 
est national poet of this century. Why may we not go 
further and call him, not only the greatest national poet, 
but the most national? Why may we not truthfully call 
him ' the Poet of the English Race ' ? " — George W. Alger. 
" The worst defect of the Idylls [is] that the central 
character comes so near to being 

'Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null.' 

But this defect is outweighed and cancelled by the fact 
that the poem, after all, does recognize and bring out in 
luminous splendor the great truths of human life. 



16 CRITICAL OPINIONS 

" The first of these truths is that sin is the cause of dis- 
order and misery, and until it is extirpated the perfect 
society cannot be securely established. The greater the 
genius, the beauty, the power, of those who transgress, 
the more fatal will be the influence of their sin upon 
other lives. This indeed is the lesson of the fall of 
Lancelot and Guinevere. It was because they stood so 
high, because they were so glorious in. their manhood and 
womanhood, that their example had power to infect the 
court. 

"Bat side by side with this truth, and in perfect har- 
mony with it, Tennyson teaches that the soul of man has 
power to resist and conquer sin within its own domain, 
to triumph over sense by steadfast loyalty to the higher 
nature, and thus to achieve peace and final glory. AVhen 
I say he teaches this, I do not mean that he sets it forth 
in any formal way as a doctrine. I mean that he shows 
it in the life of Arthur as a fact. The king chooses his 
ideal and follows it, and it lifts him up and sets him on 
his course like a star. His life is not a failure, as it has. 
been called, but a glorious success, for it demonstrates 
the freedom of the w-ill and the strength of the soul 
against the powers of evil and the fate of sin. 

" Finally, the Idylls bring out tlie profound truth that 
there is a vicarious element in human life, and that no 
man lives to himself alone. The characters are distinct, 
but they are not isolated. They are parts of a vast organ- 
ism, all bound together, all infiiiencing one another. The 
victory of sense over soul is not a solitary triumph ; it has 
far-i-eaching results. The evil lives of Modred, of Vivien, 
of Tristram, spread like a poison through the court. 
But no less fruitful, no less far-reaching, is the victory 
of soul over sense. Gareth and Enid and Balan and Bors 
and Bedivere and Galahad have power to help and to 
uplift others out of the lower life. Their lives are not 
wasted : nor does Arthur himself live in vain, though 
his Round Table is dissolved." — H. Van Dyke : The 
Poetry of Tennyson. 



. CRITICAL OPINIONS 17 

In his Victorian Poets, Stedmau says : . . . " We come 
at last to Tennyson's master work, so recently brought to 
a completion after twenty years — during which period 
the separate Idylls of the King had appeared from time 
to time. Xave and transept, aisle after aisle, the Gothic 
minster has extended, until, with the addition of a 
cloister here and a chapel yonder, the structure stands 
complete. 

" I hardly think that the poet at first expected to com- 
pose an epic. It has grown insensibly under the hands 
of one man who has given it the best years of his life, — 
but somewhat as Wolf conceived the Homeric poems to 
have grown, chant by chant, until the time came for the 
whole to be welded together in heroic form. 

" It is the epic of chivalry, the Christian ideal of chiv- 
alry which we have deduced from a barbaric source, — 
our conception of what knighthood should be, rather 
than what it really w^as ; but so skillfully wrought of high 
imaginings, fairy spells, fantastic legends, and mediaeval 
splendors, that the whole work, suffused with the Tenny- 
sonian glamour of golden mist, seems like a chronicle 
illuminated by saintly hands, and often blazes with light 
like that which flashed from the holy wizard book when 
the covers were unclasped." 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

{Gareth and Lynette) 

Give in outline the plan of the Idylls of the King. 

What is the place and purpose in the epic of Gareth and 
Lynette ? 

What incidents does Tennyson change in the story ? 

How does the conclusion of his poem differ from Mal- 
ory's tale? 

Can you think of reasons, from a literary standpoint, 
for these changes? 

Which ending do you prefer, that of Malory or Tenny- 
son? Why? 

In what season of the year does the action of the poem 
occur ? 

Is there any particular appropriateness in this? 

Why did Sir Kay dislike Gareth, and why was Sir 
Lancelot his friend? 

The poem is said to be of the nature of a parable. 
According to this, what is the significance of each of 
Gareth 's conflicts? 

Write a character sketch of Gareth. 

Write a character sketch of Lynette. 

Make a list of archaic words and expressions used in 
this poem, giving modern equivalents for each. 

From what languages chiefly are these archaisms 
drawn? Is there any special reason for that? 

Select similes and metaphors drawn from Tennyson's 
observation of nature. 

Can you make any inference from them as to his tastes 
and habits? 

1 These questions may be used as a model for similar ques- 
tions on the other Idylls. 

19 



20 SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

Select three passages which for thought and expression 
you consider the finest in tlie poem. 

Commit to memory your favorite passage. 

Compare the poem, as a wliole, with other Idylls that 
yon have read. 



. THE COMING OF ARTHUR 



Leodogran, the King of Cameliard, 
Had one fair daughter, and none other chiki ; 
And she was fairest of all flesh on earth, 
Giunevere, and in her his one delight. 



For many a petty king ere Arthur came 5 

Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war 
Each upon other, wasted all the land ; 
And still from time to time the heathen host 
Swarmed overseas, and harried what was left, 
i^.nd so there grew great tracts of wilderness, 10 
Wherein the beast was ever more and more, 
But man was less and less, till Arthur came. 
For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, ' 
And after him King Uther fought and died. 
But either failed to make the kingdom one. 15 

And after these King Arthur for a space, 
And through the puissance of his Table Round, 

17. Table Round. The order of kuighthoocl established by 
King Arthur. It took its name from a large round table at 
which the King and his knights sat for ni^als. Such a table is 
still preserved at Winchester as having belonged to King Arthur. 
Some accounts say that there were 150 seats at the table, and 
that it was originally constructed to imitate the shape of the 
world, which long after Arthur's time was supposed to be flat 
and circular in form ; see Guinevere : 

" But I was first of all the kings who drew 
The knighthood errant of this realm and all 
The realms together under me, their Head. 
21 



22 IDYLLS OF THE Kn^G 

Drew all their petty princedoms under liini, 

Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigned. 

And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, 20 
Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein, 
And none or few to scare or chase the beast ; 
So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear 
Came night and day, and rooted in the fields, 

d wallowed in the gardens of the King. 25 

nd ever and anon the wolf would steal 
The children and devour, but now and then, 
Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat 



In that fail- Order of my Table Round, 
A glorious Coinpan}', the flower of men 
To serve as model for the mighty world 
And be the fair beginning of a time " — 

We are further told that this table was originally constructed by- 
Merlin, the wizard, for Uther Pendragon, who presented it to 
Leodogran, but that on Arthur's marriage with Leodogran's 
daughter, the table and 100 knights with it were sent to Arthur 
with Guinevere as a wedding gift that should please him more 
than a grant of land. One of the seats was called the Sief/e (i.e., 
seat) Perilous [see The Last Tournament] because it swallowed 
up any unchaste person who sat ui it. Galahad the Pure was the 
only knight who could occupy it with safety. Other accounts 
say that the Round Table was constructed in imitation of the 
table used by Christ and His disciples at the Last .Supper ; that 
it contained 13 seats, and that the seat originally occupied by 
Christ was always empty except when occupied by the Holy 
Grail. Other Kings and Princes besides Arthur had Round 
Tables. In the reign of Edward I. Roger de Mortimer established 
a Round Table for the furtherance of warlike pastimes, and King 
Edward III. is said to have done the same. " To hold a Round 
Table " came to mean little more than to hold a tournament. 

28. lent . . . four feet. Many authentic records of wolf- • 
reared children in comparatively modern times are to be found. 
A good account of a half-wild boy, captured in a wolf's den, is 
given in Dr. Ball's Jungle Life in India, where the description of 
the boy's habits tallies with that given in the text of the habits 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 23 

To human sucklings ; and the children, housed 

In her foul den, there at their meat would growl, 30 

And mock their foster-mother on four feet, 

Till, straightened, they grew up to wolf-like men. 

Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran 

Groaned for the Koman legions here again, 

And Caesar's eagle : then his brother king, 35 

Urien, assailed him : last a heathen horde, 

Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with bl 



And on the spike that split the mother's heart ,.^ 




W 



y> 



Spitting the child, brake on him, till, amazed. 

He knew not whither he should turn for aid. 40 

But — for he heard of Arthur newly crowned, 
Though not without an uproar made by those 
Who cried, " He is not Uther's son " — the King 
Sent to him, saying, " Arise, and help us thou ! 
For here between the man and beast we die." 45 

And Arthur yet had done no deed of arms, 
But heard the call, and came : and Guinevere 
Stood by the castle walls to watch him pass ; 
But since he neither wore on helm or shield 
The golden symbol of his kinglihood, 50 

But rode a simple knight among his knights, 

of his forerunners iu Cameliard. Cf. the tale of Romulus and 
Remus and the ancient belief in the existence of the were-wolf , 
or loiip-garou, a bogie, half-man, half- wolf, that devoured 
children. Giraldus Cambrensis tells us that Irishmen can 
" change into wolves." 

32. wolf-like men. Cf. Geraint and Enid, of bandit knights: 

" Stript from the three dead wolves of woman born 
The three gay suits of armor which they wore." 



24 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And many of these in richer arms than he, 

She saw him not, or marked not, if she saw, 

One among many, though his face was bare. 

But Arthur, looking downward as he past, 55 

Felt the light of her eyes into his life 

Smite on the sudden, yet rode on, and pitched 

His tents beside the forest. Then he drave 

Tl^e heathen ; after, slew the beast, and felled 

The forest, letting in the sun, and made 60 

Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight 

And so returned. 

For while he lingered there, 
A doubt that ever smoldered in the hearts 
Of those great Lords and Barons of his realm 
Flashed forth and into war : for most of these, 65 
Colleaguing with a score of petty kings. 
Made head against him, crying, "Who is he 
That he should rule us ? who hath proven him 
King Uther's son ? for lo ! we look at him. 
And find nor face nor bearing, limbs nor voice, 70 
Are like to those of Uther whom we knew. 
This is the son of Gorlois, not the Iviug; 
This the son of Anton, not the King."' 

54. though his face was bare, i.e., liis visor, the face-piece 
of his helmet, was raised. A hint is, perliaps, here given that 
Guinevere ought to have instinctively knovi^n at sight of Arthur's 
face that he v^as God's "highest creature here"; but, as she 
says of herself, in the Idyll that bears her name, her 

" false voluptuous pride, that took 
Too easily impressions from below, 
Would not look up " 

to recognize the height of Arthur's purity. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 25 

And Arthur, passing thence to battle, felt 
Travail, and throes and agonies of the life, 75 

Desiring to be joined with Guinevere ; 
And thinking as he rode, " Her father said 
That there between the man and beast they die. 
Shall I not lift her from this land of beasts 
Up to my throne, and side by side with me ? 80 
What happiness to reign a lonely king, 
Vext — ye stars that shudder over me, 

earth that soundest hollow under me — 
Yext with Vv^aste dreams ? for saving I be joined 
To her that is the fairest under heaven, 85 

1 seem as nothing in the mighty world. 
And cannot will my will, nor work my work 
Wholly, nor make myself in mine own realm 
Victor and lord. But were I joined with her. 
Then might we live together as one life, 90 
And reigning with one will in everything 

Have power on this dark land to lighten it, 
And power on this dead world to make It live." 

Thereafter — as he speaks who tells the tale — 
When Arthur reached a field-of-battle bright 95 

With pitched pavilions of his foe, the world 
Was all so clear about him, that he saw 
The smallest rock far on the faintest hill. 
And even in high day the morning star. 
So when the King had set his banner broad, 100 

95. field-of-battle bright . . . star. With this bright picture 
of Arthur's great battle at the fouudation of his realm contrast 
that in The Passing of Arthur of the " last dim, weird battle of 
the west," where the death-white mist and confusion dulled the 
hearts of all. 



26 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

At once from either side, with trumpet-blast, 

And shouts, and clarions shrilling unto blood, 

The long-lanced battle let their horses run. 

And now the Barons and the kings prevailed, 

And now the King, as here and there that war 105 

Went swaying ; but the Powers who walk the world 

Made lightnings and great thunders over him. 

And dazed all eyes, till Arthur by main might, 

And mightier of his hands with every blow. 

And leading all his knighthood threw the kings no 

Carados, Urien, Cradlemont of Wales, 

Claudias, and Clariance of Northumberland, 

The King Brandagoras of Latangor, 

With Anguisant of Erin, Morganore, 

And Lot of Orkney. Then, before a voice 115 

As dreadful as the shout of one who sees 

To one who sins, and deems himself alone 

And all the world asleep, they swerved and brake 

Flying, and Arthur called to stay the brands 119 

That hacked among the flyers, "Ho! they yield!'' 

103. The long-lanced . . . run. Cf . Malory, i. 13, " Then either 
battaile let their horses ruuue as last as they might," and i. 15, 
" All these fortie kuightes rode on afore, with great speres on 
their thyghes, and spurred theyr horses myghtely as fast as 
theyr horses might runne." battle, the main l)ody of an army. 
Cf. Scott, The Lady of the Lake, vi. 16: 

" Their barbed horsemen, in the rear, 
The stern battalia crowned." 

120. " Ho ! they yield ! " Cf . Malory, i. 15 : " AVith that came 
Merlyn upon a great black horse, and sayde to King Arthur, 
' Ye have never done; have ye not done ynough ? Of three score 
thousand ye have left on lyve but fifteene thousand ; it is tyme 
for to saye ho — '." ' Ho' is the formal exclamation used by a 
commander in battle or the umpire in a tournament to order a 
cessation of hostilities ; cf . Malory, x. 44 : " Therewith the bant 
prince cried Ho; and then they went to lodging." 



Tilt: (JOMING OF ARTHUR 27 

So like a painted battle the war stood 

Silenced, the living quiet as the dead, 

And in the heart of Arthur joy was lord. 

He laughed upon his warrior whom he loved 

And honored most. "Thou dost not doubt me 

So well thnie arm hath wrought for me to-day." 
" Sir and my liege/' he cried, " the fire of God 
Descends upon thee in the battle-field : 
I know thee for my King ! " Whereat the two. 
For each had warded either in the fight, 130 

Sware on the field of death a deathless love. 
And Arthur said, " Man's word is God in man : 
Let chance what will, I trust thee to the death '^^^ 

Then quickly from the foughten field he sent 
Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere, 
His new-made knights, to King Leodogran, 
Saying, " If I in aught have served thee well, 
Give me thy daughter Guinevere to wife." 

Whom when he heard, Leodogran in heart 
Debating — " How should I that am a kino- 

12-t. his warrior . . . most. Sir Lancelot of the Lake ; see 
below, lines 446-7. 

127. the fire of God . . . battle-field. Ci. Lancelot and Elaine, 
where Lancelot again says of Arthur, 

" in his heathen war the fire of God 
Fills him : I never saw his like : there hves 
No greater leader." 

129. Whereat the two . . . deathless love. In the days of 
chivalry it was a common custom for two knights to swear to 
each other a defensive and ofPensive alliance, and they were 
then c^Wed fratres jar at i, sworn brothers. 



135 



140 



28 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

However much he holp me at my need, 
Give my one daughter saving to a king, 
And a king's son ? '' — lifted his voice, and called 
A hoary man, his chamberlain, to whom 
He trusted all things, and of him required 145 

His counsel : " Knowest thou aught of Arthur's 
birth ? " 

Then spake the hoary chamberlain and said, 
^' Sir King, there be but two old men that know : 
And each is twice as old as I ; and one 
Is Merlin, the wise man that ever served 150 

King Uther through his magic art ; and one 
Is Merlin's master (so they call him) Bleys, 
Who taught him magic ; but the scholar ran 
Before the master, and so far, that Bleys 
Laid magic by, and sat him down, and wrote 155 

141. holp. Cf. holpen, line 160, page 29. 

150. Merlin . . . art. " According to Geoffrey of Monmouth 
(lib. vi. CO. 18, 19), Merlin had been court magician since the 
time of Vortigern, who had caused him to be sought as the only- 
one capable of relieving him out of the ditticulty he had encoun- 
tered in raising a castle on Salisbury Plain " (Note in Wright's 
Malory). " The true history of Merlin seems to be that he was 
born between the years 470 and 480, and during the invasion of 
the Saxon took the name of Ambrose, which preceded his name 
of Merlin, from the successful leader of the Britons, Ambrosius 
Aurelianus, who was his first chief, and from his service he 
passed into that of King Arthur, the southern leader of the 
Britons " (Morley, ^/i^/^is/i W)Hters,\.). Merlin is represented 
in Merlin and Vivien as the son of a demon, and also as "the 
great Enchanter of the Time," and again as 

" the most famous man of all those times, 
Merlin, who knew the range of all their arts. 
Had built the King his havens, ships, and halls. 
Was also Bard, and knew the starry heavens ; 
The people call'd him Wizard — " 



. THE COMING OF ARTHUR 29 

All things and whatsoever Merlin did 
In one great annal-book, where after-years 
Will learn the secret of our Arthur's birth." 

To whom the King Leodogran replied, 
" friend, had I been hoi pen half as well i6o 

By this King Arthur as by thee to-day. 
Then beast and man had had their share of me: 
But summon here before us yet once more 
Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere." 

Then, when they came before him, the King 
said, 165 

" I have seen the cuckoo chased by lesser fowl, 
And reason in the chase : but wherefore now 
Do these your lords stir up the heat of war, 
Some calling Arthur born of Gorlois, 
Others of Anton ? Tell me, ye yourselves, 170 

Hold ye this Arthur for King Uther's son? " 

And Ulfius and Brastias answered, ^'Ay." 
Then Bedivere, the first of all his knisrhts 



160. holpen half as well ... of me. Meaning, of course, 
that the chamberlain's help had, in fact, been less than no help 
at all. 

166. I have seen . . . chase, the reason being that the young 
cuckoo, having been hatched in the nest of the lesser fowl, tries 
to oust the offspring of the rightful owner; cuckoo's eggs are 
often found in the nests of smaller birds. The King asks if 
the lords have any reason for thinking Arthur has been put in 
possession of a throne to which he has by birth no right. Cf , 
Harold : Show-day at Battle Abbey : " The cuckoo . . . Crying 
with my false egg I overwhelm The native nest.'* 

173. Then Bedivere . . . the King. The character of Bedivere, 
who, in The Passing of Artkur, is the King's last companion — 



30 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Knighted by Arthur at his crowning, spake — 
For bold in heart and act and word was he, 175 

Whenever slander breathed against the King — 

" Sir, there be many rumors on this head : 
For there be those who hate him in their hearts, 
Call him baseborn, and since his ways are sweet, 
And theirs are bestial, hold him less than man : 180 
And there be those who deem him more than man. 
And dream he dropt from heaven : but my belief 
In all this matter — so ye care to learn — 
Sir, for ye know that in King Uther's time 
The prince and warrior Gorlois, he that held 185 
Tintagil castle by the Cornish sea, 
AVas wedded with a winsome wife, Ygerne : 
And daughters had she borne him, — one whereof. 
Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent, 
Hath ever like a loyal sister cleaved 190 

To Arthur, — but a son she had not borne. 
And Uther cast upon her eyes of love : 
But she, a stainless wife to Gorlois, 

"First made and latest left of all the knights " — is distinctly 
and consistently painted. He is a plain, blunt, honest soul, who 
troubles himself little about the doubts and dititiculties which 
beset the belief of others in the right of Arthur's kingship. He 
takes no account of any supernatural claim, sweeps away all 
the mystery with which some would surround Arthur's birth, 
and gives a simple, natural and, to himself at all events, a 
satisfactory account of Arthur's parentage. Compare his con- 
duct in The Passing of Arthvr, where, when even the King is 
shaken by doubts and inward questionings, he will have none 
of them where he cares nothing for ghosts and dreams, and 
reckons all mystic portents as the harmless glamour of the 
tield. He feels that Arthur is his true King, and having once 
made up his mind on the point despises all rumors and never 
swerves from unquestioning loyalty. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 31 

So loathed the bright dishonor of his love, 

That Gorlois and King Uther went to war: 195 

And overthrown was Gorlois and slain. 

Then Uther in his wrath and heat besieged 

Ygerne within Tintagil, where her men, 

Seeing the mighty swarm about their walls, 

Left her and fled, and Uther entered in, 200 

And there was none to call to but himself. 

So, compassed by the power of the King, 

Enforced she was to wed him in her tears, 

And with a shameful swiftness : afterward. 

Not many moons. King Uther died himself, 205 

Moaning and wailing for an heir to rule 

After him, lest the realm should go to wrack. 

And that same night, the night of the new year, 

By reason of the bitterness and grief 

That vext his mother, all before his time, 210 

Was Arthur born, and all as soon as born 

Delivered at a secret postern-gate 

To Merlin, to be holden far apart 

Until his hour should come ; because the lords 

Of that fierce day were as the lords of this, 215 

Wild beasts, and surely would have torn the child. 

Piecemeal among them, had they known ; for 

each 
But sought to rule for his own self and hand. 
And many hated Uther for the sake 
Of Gorlois. Wherefore Merlin took the child, 220 
And gave him to Sir Anton, an old knight. 
And ancient friend of Uther ; and his wife 
Nursed the young prince, and reared him with lier 

own: 



32 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And no man knew. And ever since tlie lords 
Have fougliten like wild beasts among them- 
selves, ' 225 
So that the realm has gone to wrack : but now, 
This year, when Merlin (for his hour had come) 
Brought Arthur forth, and set him in the hall. 
Proclaiming, 'Here is Uther's heir, your king,' 
A hundred voices cried, ' Away with him ! 230 
Xo king of ours ! a son of Gorlois he, 
Or else the child of Anton, and no king. 
Or else baseborn.' Yet Merlin through his craft. 
And while the people clamored for a king. 
Had Arthur crowned ; but after, the great lords 235 
Banded, and so brake out in open war." 

Then while the King debated with himself 
If Arthur were the child of shamefulness, 
Or born the son of Gorlois, after death. 
Or Uther's son, and born before his time, 240 

Or whether there were truth in anything 
Said by these three, there came to Caineliard, 
With Gawain and young IModred, her two sons, 
Lot's wife, the Queen of Orkney, Bellicent ; 
Whom as he could, not as he Avould, the King 245 
Make feast for, saying, as they sat at meat, 



234. clamored for a king. " And at the feast of Pentecost all 
manner of men assayed to pull at the sword that would assay, 
but none might prevail but Arthur ; and he pulled it out afore 
all the lords and commons that were there, wherefore all the 
commons cried at once, We will have Arthur unto our king" 
(Malory, i. 5). 

245. as he could . . . would, as liberally as his broken for- 
tunes allowed, not as liberally as he would have wished. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 33 

" A doubtful throne is ice on summer seas. 
Ye come from Arthur's court. Victor his men 
Report him! Yea, but ye — think ye this King — 
So many those that hate him, and so strong, 250 

So few his knights, however brave they be — 
Hath body enow to hokl his foemen down ? " 

" King," she cried, " and I will tell thee : few. 
Few, but all brave, all of one mind with him ; 
For I was near him when the savage yells 255 

Of Uther's peerage died, and Arthur sat 
Crowned on the dais, and his warriors cried, 
' Be thou the king, and we will work thy will 
Who love thee.' Then the King in low, deep 

tones. 
And simple words of great authority, 260 

Bound them by so strait vows to his own self. 
That when they rose, knighted from kneeling, 

some 
Were pale as at the passing of a ghost, 

247. ice on summer seas, as little likely to endure as ice that 
has floated into the warmth of southern seas. Icebergs fre- 
quently float from the Arctic regions so far south as to he 
melted by the warm Gulf Stream. Cf. Coventry Patmore's 
Angel in the House, xi. 2: 

" An iceberg in an nidian sea." 

259. in low deep tones . . . coming of a light. These lines 
are often quoted as the finest in the j)oem. 

261. so strait vows. Strait and strict are doublets, i.e., 
words of the same (or a similar) meaning from one root. These 
vows are briefly enumerated in Gareth and Lynette : 

" my knights are sworn to vows 
Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness, 
And, loving, utter gentleness in love. 
And uttermost obedience to the King." 
D 



34 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

Some fluslieil, and others dazed, as one who wakes 
Half-blinded at the coming of a light. 265 

" But when he spake and cheered his Table Kound 
With large, divine, and comfortable words, 
Beyond my tongue to tell thee — I beheld 
From eye to eye through all their Order flash 
A. momentary likeness of the King: 270 

And ere it left their faces, through the cross 
And those around it and the Crucified, 
Down from the casement over Arthur, smote 

261. others dazed . . . light, dazzled, as it were, by the 
briglituess of the revelation of a new life and duties iu store 
for them, which at first thej^ could only partly understand. A 
picture of this life and its duties is given in Guinevere : 

" I made them lay their hands in mine and swear, 
To reverence the King as if he were 
Their conscience, and their conscience as their Kin<r, 
To break the heathen and uphold tlie Christ, 
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, 
To spealv no slander, no, nor listen to it, 
To honor his own word as if his God's, 
To lead sweet lives in purest chastity, 
To love one maiden only, cleave to her. 
And worship her by years of noble deeds, 
Until they won hor." 

267. large, sublime, comfortable, comforting, cheering ; Ten- 
nyson has 'comfortable words,' again in The Lovers Tale and 
in Queen Mary, v. 2. So in the Communion Service in the 
Prayer Book: "Hear what comfortable words our Saviour 
Christ saith to all that truly turn to Him.'' 

269. From eye . . , likeness of the King. Cf. The Holy 
Grail : 

" and this Galahad when he heard 
My sister's vision, filled nie witli amaze ; 
His eyes became so like her own, they seemed 
Hers, and himself her brother more than I." 

273. Down from the casement, i.e., through the glass of tlie 
"storied window richly dight " with the picture of Christ on 
the cross. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 35 

Flame-color, vert and azure, in three rays. 
One falling upon each of three fair queens, 275 

Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends 
Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall, with bright 
Sweet faces, who will help him at his need. 

^' And there I saw mage Merlin, whose vast wit 
And hundred winters are but as the hands 280 

Of loyal vassals toiling for their liege. 

274. vert and azure. Heraldic names for green and blue. 

275. three fair queens. On the deck of a dark barge which 
bears Arthur away after his last battle in The Passing of 
Arthur, there also stood " black-stoled, black-hooded" "three 
queens with crowns of gold " who "put forth their hands and 
took the king and wept." Bedivere asks if they be not 

" the three whereat we gazed 
On that high day, when clothed with living hght, 
They stood before the thi-one in silence, friends 
Of Arthur, who should help him at his need ? " 

278. at his need. In the Coronation scene many of the details 
have a distinctly symbolic reference. The "three fair queens," 
with the light from the pictured cross falling upon them, prob- 
ably typify the three Christian virtues, Faith, Hope, Charity. 
Mage Merlin, "who knew the range of all their arts," may 
aptly symbolize the Intellect: his knowledge ranges over all 
human philosophy, but, as his fate, described in Merlin and 
Vivien, shows, it is knowledge without moral restraint or spir- 
itual strength. The Lady of the Lake, who stands near Merlin, 
" knows a subtler magic than his own," inasmuch as the power 
of Religion is based on deeper and stronger foundations than 
those of any philosophy that science can teach. She is clothed 
in white, the color of purity ; incense, the emblem of adoration, 
curls about her; her face is half hidden in the "dim religious 
light " of the holy place ; her voice mingles with the hymns, 
and, like the voice of the great multitude saying Alleluia, 
heard by St. John in the Revelation, sounds "as the voice of 
many waters"; her dwelling is in eternal calm, where storms 
cannot reach her; and as our Lord walked on the Galilean 
waves and stilled their tumult, she can pass over the troubled 
waters of life and calm them with her footsteps. 



36 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

" And near liim stood the Lady of the Lake, 
Who knows a subtler magic than his own — 
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wondei-ful. 
She gave the King his huge cross-hilted sword, 285 
Whereby to drive the heathen out : a mist 
Of incense curled about her, and her face 
Well-nigh was hidden in the minster gloom; 
But there was heard among the holy hymns 
A voice as of the waters, for she dwells 290 

Down in a deei3 ; calm, whatsoever storms 
May shake the world, and when the surface rolls, 
Hath power to walk the waters like our Lord. 

" There likewise I beheld Excalibur 
Before him at his crowning borne, the sword 295 

282. Lady of the Lake. Foi- Malory's acfouut of "How 
Arthur by the mean of Merlin gat Excalibur his sword of the 
Lady of the Lake," see his Morte Darthur, i. 2:!. 

284. samite is a rich silk stuff interwoven with gold or silver 
thread ; derived from Gk. hex, six, and viitos, thread of the 
warp, literally " woven of six threads " ; cf . dimity. Tennyson 
has "red samite" and "blackest samite" in Lancelot and 
Elaine, and "crimson samite" in The Holy Grail. 

285. his huge cross-hilted sword. The cross-shaped hilt of 
the swords of Christian knights, symbolic of their religious be- 
lief, was often used as a sacred emblem upon which oaths were 
taken, and which sometimes reminded them of their vows. 
Malory (xiv. 9) tells of Sir Percivale how, when sore tempted, 
" by adventure and grace he saw his sword lie upon the ground 
all naked, in whose pommel was a red cross, and the sign of the 
crucifix therein, and bethought him on his knighthood, and his 
promise made toforehand unto the good inan. Then he made 
the sign of the cross in his forehead, and therewith the pavilion 
turned up so down, and then it changed unto a smoke and a 
black cloud, and then he was adread." 

294. Excalibur. In Malory's Morte Darthur, ii. 3, the Lady 
of the Lake, who had given Arthur the sword, says: "The 
name of it is Excalibur, that is as much to say as Cut-steel." 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 37 

That rose from out the bosom of the lake, 
And Arthur rowed across and took it — - rich 
With jewels, elfin Urim, on the hilt, 
Bewildering heart and eye — the blade so bright 

lu Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle we read how "Arthur 
himself, dressed in a bi-eastplate worthy of so great a king, 
phices on his head a golden helmet engraved with the sem- 
blance of a dragon. Over his shoulders he throws his shield 
called Priwen, on which a picture of Holy Mary, Mother of 
God, constantly recalled her to his memory. Girt with ddi- 
bura, a most excellent sword, and fabricated in the Isle of Ava- 
lon, he graces his right hand with the lance named Ron. This 
was a long and broad spear, well contrived for slaughter." 
Merlin informed Arthur that Excalibur's scabbard was "worth 
ten of the sword, for while ye have the scabbard upon you ye 
shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded " (Malory, i. 2o). 

297. rich With jewels. Cf. the description in The Passing 
of Arthur. 

298. elfin Urim, Fairy jewels of mystic significance. Cf. 
the description of the " breastplate of judgment" made for the 
high priest, Bible, Exodus xxviii. 15-30: "And thou shalt put 
in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim ; 
and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before 
the Lord ; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of 
Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually." The Urim 
and Thummim seem to have been a mysterious contrivance in 
or on the high priest's breastplate, which was supposed to give 
oracular responses ; it consisted, accordhig to some authorities, 
either of the four rows of precious stones upon which the names 
of the twelve tribes of Israel were inscribed, or of three precious 
stones, one of which, by some peculiar appearance on it, indi- 
cated "Yes," another "No," while the third implied that the 
answer was neutral. Urim means Light, and Thummim Truth. 

299. the blade ... by it. Cf . Gareth and Lynette : 

" but this was all of that true steel 
Whereof they forged the brand Excalibnr, 
And Hghtniugs played about it in the storm." 

Cf. Malory, 1. 7: " Then he drew his sword Excalibur, but it 
was so bright in his enemies' eyes that it gave light like thirty 
torches." So also in The Passing of Arthur, when Excalibur 
was cast away, it 

" Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon." 



38 IDYLLS OF THE KINO 

That men are blinded by it — on one side, 300 

Graven in the oklest tongue of all this world, 
' Take me,' but turn the blade and ye shall see, 
And written in the speech ye speak yourself, 
' Cast me away ! ' And sad was Arthur's face 
Taking it, but'old Merlin counseled him, 305 

' Take thou and strike ! the time to cast away 
Is yet far oft'.' So this great brand the King 
Took, and by this will beat his foemen down." 

^^hereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought 
To sift his doubtings to the last, and asked, 310 

Fixing full eyes of question on her face, 
" The swallow and the swift are near akin, 
But thou art closer to this noble prince, 
Being his own. dear sister;" and she said, 
"Daughter of Gorlois and Ygerne am I ; " 315 

" And therefore Arthur's sister ? " asked the King. 
She answered, -'These be secret things," and signed 
To those two sons to pass, and let them be. 
And Gawain went, and breaking into song 
Sprang out, and follow'd by his flying hair 320 

Ean like a colt, and leapt at all he saw : 
But Modred laid his ear beside the doors. 
And there half -heard ; the same that afterward 
Struck for the throne, and striking found his doom. 

And then the Queen made answer, " What know 

For dark my mother was in eyes and hair, 

319. And Gawain . . . half-heard. The distinction here sug- 
gested between the natures of Gawain and Modred is carried 
out in the other Idylls. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 39 

And dark in hair and eyes, am I ; and dark 

Was Gorlois, yea and dark was Uther too, 

Well-nigli to blackness ; bnt this King is fair 

Beyond the race of Britons and of men. 330 

Moreover, always in my mind I hear 

A cry from out the dawning of my life, 

A mother weeping, and I hear her say, 

^ that ye had some brother, pretty one, 

To guard thee on the rough ways of the world.' " 335 

"Ay,'^ said the King, "and hear ye such a cry? 
But wdien did Arthur chance upon thee first ? " 

" King ! " she cried, " and I will tell thee true : 
He found me first when yet a little maid : 
Beaten had I been for a little fault 340 

Whereof I was not guilty; and out I ran- 
And flung myself down on a bank of heath, 
And hated this fair world and all therein, 
And wept, and wished that I were dead ; and he — 
I know not whether of himself he came, 345 

Or brought by Merlin, who, they say, can w^alk 

329. fair ... of men. Arthur's fairness of complexion is 
alluded to in The Passing of Arthur; see 1. 337, p. 231, " with wide 
blue eyes," and 1. 384, p. 234, " his light and lustrous curls." The 
ancient Britons were generally of a light complexion, and 
" blonde as an Englishwoman " is still used in France as a de- 
scription of unusual fairness. 

346. who . . . can walk Unseen. A common attribute of 
wizards, generally described as inherent in some magic amulet, 
dress, ring, or herb that they wore. Cf. Shaks., i. Henry IV. iv. 
4: " We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible," and 
Beaumont and Fletcher, Fair Maid of the Inn, i. : 

'■ Why, (lid you think that you had Gyges' ring, 
Or the herb that gives invisibility ? " 



40 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Unseen at pleasure — he was at my side, 

And spake sweet words, and comforted my heart, 

And dried my tears, being a child with me. 

And many a time he came, and evermore 350 

As I grew greater grew with me ; and sad 

At times he seemed, and sad with him was I, 

Stern too at times, and then I loved him not, 

But sweet again, and then I loved him well. 

And now of late I see him less and less, 355 

But those first days had golden hours for me. 

For then I surely thought he would be king. 

" But let me tell thee now another tale : 
For Bleys, our Merlin's master, as they say, 
Died but of late, and sent his cry to me, 360 

To hear him speak before he left his life. 
Shrunk like a fairy changeling lay the mage ; 
And when I entered told me that himself 
And Merlin ever served about the King, 
Uther, before he died ; and on the night 365 

When Uther in Tintagil past away 
Moaning and wailing for an heir, the two 
Left the still King, and passing forth to breathe. 
Then from the castle gateway by the chasm 

3G2. Shrunk like a fairy changeling. It was an accepted doc- 
trine of fairy lore that wicked fairies had the power to substi- 
tute an elf or imp of their own species for a human child. The 
changeling, however, Avas soon recognized as no natural offspring 
by its peevishness and wizened, shriveled appearance; it often 
resembled a little old man with a face full of puckers and 
wrinkles. Cf. Shaks., i. Henry IV. i. 1 : 

" Ob, that it could be proved 
That some ino-ht-tripi)inff fairy had exchanged 
In cradle-clothes, our children as they lay." 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 41 

Descending througli the dismal night — a night 370 
In which the bounds of heaven and eartli were lost — 
Beheld, so high upon tiie dreary deeps 
It seemed in heaven, a ship, the shape thereof 
A dragon winged, and all from stem to stern 
Bright with a shining people on the decks, 375 

And gone as soon as seen. And then the two 
Dropt to the cove, and watched the great sea fall, 
Wave after wave, each mightier than the last. 
Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep 
And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged 380 

Roaring, aiid all the wave was in a flame : 
And down the wave and in the flame was borne 
A naked babe, and rode to Merlin's feet, 
Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried 'The 

King ! 
Here is an heir for Uther ! ' And the fringe 385 
Of that great breaker, sweeping up the strand. 
Lashed at the wizard as he spake the word, 
And all at once all round him rose in fire. 
So that the child and he were clothed in fire. 
And presently thereafter followed calm, 390 

Free sky and stars : ' And this same child,' he said, 
' Is he who reigns ; nor could I part in peace 

374. and all . . . decks. Contrast this bright vision with the 
gloomy blackness of the " dusky barge, dark as a funeral scarf 
from stem to stern," which carries Arthur away in The Passing 
of Arthur. The dragon ship is "gone as soon as seen"; the 
barge glides slowly away till it appears to go 

" From less to less and vanish into light." 

379. a ninth one. Every ninth wave, and in a smaller degree 
every third, was commonly believed to be larger than those that 
went before it. 



42 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Till this were told.' And saying this the seer 
Went through the strait and dreadful pass of death, 
Nor ever to be questioned any more 395 

Save on the further side ; but when I met 
Merlin, and asked him if these things were trutli — 
The shining dragon and the naked child • 
Descending in the glory of the seas — 
He laughed as is his wont, and answered me 40© 
In riddling triplets of old time, and said : 

" ' Rain, rain, and sun ! a rainl)ow in the sky ! 
A young man will be wiser by and by ; 
An old man's wit may wander ere he die. 

Rain, rain, and sun ! a rainbow on the lea! 405 
And truth is this to me, and that to thee ; 
And truth or clothed or naked let it be. 

Rain, sun, and rain ! and the free blossom blows : 
' Sun, rain, and sun ! and where is he who knows ? 
From the great deep to the great deep he goes.' 410 

'^ So Merlin riddling angered me ; but tliou 
Fear not to give this King thine only child, 
Guinevere: so great bards of him will sing 

401. riddling triplets of old time. Ct Gareth and Lynette : 

" ' Know ye not then the Middling of the Bards ? 
Confusion, and illusion, and relation. 
Elusion, and occasion, and evasion ? ' " 

The most ancient of the Cambrian Bards wrote in stanzas of 
three rhyming lines, called Englyn Milwr, or " The Warrior's 
Triplet," each line containing seven syllables. Hence are said 
to have sprung the Welsh Triads, which contained the Cymric 
systems of theology, ethics, history, jurisprudence, and bardism. 
Facts and teachings were strung together in successive groups 
of three of a kind. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 43 

Jlereafter; and dark sayings from of old 

Ranging and ringing through the minds of men, 415 

And. echoed by okl folk beside their tires 

For comfort after their wage-work is done, 

Speak of the King ; and Merlin in our time 

Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn 

Though men may wound him that he will not die, 

But pass, again to come ; and then or now 421 

Utterly smite the heathen underfoot, 

Till these and all men hail him for their king." 

She spake, and King Leodogran rejoiced, 
But musing " Shall I answer yea or nay ? " 425 

Doubted, and drowsed, nodded and slept, and saw, 
Dreaming, a slope of land that ever grew. 
Field after field, up to a height, the peak 
Haze-hidden, and thereon a phantom king. 



420. will not die . . . again to come. The belief in a " second 
coming " is fonncl in many of the legends (»f ancient heroes, e.g.. 
in those of Charlemagne, Barbarossa, Desmond, Sebastian of 
Brazil. Malory, xxi. 7, writes: "Yet some men say in many 
parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the 
will of our Lord Jesu in another place. And men say that he 
shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross. I will not 
say it shall be so, but rather I will say, here in this world he 
changed his life. But many men say that there is written upon 
his tomb this verse, ' Hie jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rexque 
futurus.' " . 

429. a phantom king . . . Crowned. Mr. Hutton, Literary 
Essays, remarks on this dream: "... the dream in which he 
mingles the story of the actual wars of Arthur against the 
heathen with the rumors of the still struggling passions of his 
rebellious subjects, and yet augurs that the grandeur of the 
King will survive even the history of his deeds — is a splendid 
embodiment of Tennyson's drift throughout the poem. Grant 
that a perfect king is a phantom of the human imagination, yet 
it is a phantom which will haunt it long after what we call the 



44 IDYLLS OF THE KLYG 

Now looming, and now lost; and on the 8lo})e 430 
The vsword rose, the hind fell, the herd was driven, 
Fire glimpsed ; and all the land from roof and ri'bk. 
In drifts of smoke before a rolling wind. 
Streamed to the peak, and mingled with the haze 
And made it thicker; while the phantom king ^33 
Sent out at times a voice : and here or there 
Stood one who pointed toward the voice, the rest 
Slew on and burnt, crying, " No king of ours, "' 
No son of Uther, and no king of ours ; " 
Till with a wink his dream was changed, and haze 
Descended, and the solid earth became 441 

As nothing, but the King stood out in heaven. 
Crowned. And Leodogran awoke, and sent 
Ulfius, and Brastias, and Bedivere, 
Back to the court of Arthur answering yea. 445 

Then Arthur charged his warrior whom he loved 
And honored most. Sir Lancelot, to ride forth 
And bring the Queen ; — and watched him from the 

gates : 
And Lancelot past away among the flowers, 
(For then was latter April) and returned 450 

Among the flowers, in May, with Guinevere. 
To whom arrived, by Dubric, the high saint, 

real earth shall have dissolved. . . . liike all true authority, 
that of the ideal king is hidden in mystery, but the image of 
his glory in the heavens survives the crumbling of his kingdom 
on eartli." 

449. flowers . . . latter April. Notice the appropriateness 
of the season. 

452. Dubric or Dubritius, archbishop of Caerleon-upon-Usk 
and primate of Britain. Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv., calls him 
" St. Dubric, whose report old Caerleon still doth carry." 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 45 

Chief of the church in Britain, and before 
The stateliest of her altar-slirines, the King 
That morn was married, while in stainless white, 
The fair beginners of a nobler time, 456 

And glorying in their vows and him, his knights 
Stood round him, and rejoicing in his joy. 
Far shone the fields of May through open door, 
The sacred altar blossomed white with May, 460 
The Sun of May descended on their King, 
They gazed on all earth's beauty in their Queen, 
Rolled incense, and there past along the hymns 
A voice as of the waters, while the two 
Sware at the shrine of Christ a deathless love: 465 
And Arthur said, ^' Behold, thy doom is mine. 
Let chance what will, I love thee to the deafliT" 
To whom the Queen replied with drooping eyes, 
"' King and my lord, I love thee to the death ! " 
And holy Dubric spread his hands and spake^ 470 
" Keign ye, and live and love, and make the world 
Other, and may thy Queen be one with thee, 
And all this .Order of thy Table Round 

Fulfill the.boundless purpose of their King!" 

> 

So Dubric said ; but when they left the shrine 475 
Great lords from Rome before the portal stood, 

454. The stateliest of her altar-shrines. Malory, iii. 5, says : 
" Then was the high feast made ready and the King was wedded 
at Camelot unto Dame Guenever in the church of St. Stephen's 
with great solemnity." 

47(). Great lords from Rome. Malory, v. 1, tells how twelve 
aged ambassadors of Rome came to King Arthur as ambassadors 
and messengers from the Emperor Lucius, which was called at 
that time Dictator or Procuror of the Public Weal of Rome, to 
demand truage of the realm on the ground of the statutes and 



46 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

111 scornful stillness gazing as tliey past; 

Then while they paced a city all on fire 

With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew, 479 

And Arthur's knighthood sang before the King : — • 

" Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May ; 
Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away ! 
Blow through the living world — ' Let the King 



" Shall Eome or Heathen rule in Arthur's realm ? 
Flash brand and lance, fall battle-ax upon helm, 485 
Fall battle-ax, and flash brand ! Let the King reign. 

^' Strike for the King and live ! his knights have 
heard 
That God hath told the King a secret word. 
Fall battle-ax, and flash brand ! Let the King 
reign. 

'^ Blow trumpet ! he will lift us from the dust, 490 
Blow trumpet ! live the strength and die the lust ! 
Clang battle-ax, and clash brand I Let the King 
reign. 



decrees mude by Julius Cfesar, conqueror of the realm. And 
subsequently we read how Arthur made war against Lucius and 
smote him with Excalibur, " that it cleft his head from the 
summit of his head, and stinted not till it came to his breast. 
And then the emperor fell down dead, and there euded his 
life." 

488. That God . . . secret word. Arthur had, doubtless, in- 
formed his knights, when swearing them of the Table Round, 
how authority had been bestowed on him and sanction given to 
his " boundless purpose " by secret revelation from heaven. 



THE COMING OF ARTHUR 47 

'• Strike for the King and die ! and if thou diest, 
The King is King, and ever wills the highest. 
Clang battle-ax, and clash brand ! Let the King 
reign. 495 

" Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May ! 
Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day ! 
Clang battle-ax, and clash brand ! Let the King 



" The King will follow Christ, and we the King 
In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing. 500 
Fall battle-ax, and flash brand ! Let the King 
reign." 

So sang the knighthood, moving to their hall. 
There at the banquet those great Lords from Kome, 
The slow-fading mistress of the world. 
Strode in, and claimed their tribute as of yore. 505 
But Arthur spake, " Behold, for these have sworn 
To wage my wars, and worship me their King; 
The_ Qlji-arder changeth, yielding placejbo new ; 

504. The slow-fading . . . world. In the fifth century 
(about -ill) the last of the Roman legions was withdrawn from 
Britain. Rome needed all her soldiers at home : the Goth was 
on her track and as an empire she was already on the wane. 

.506. "Behold . . . pay." Malory, v. 2, tells " how the kings 
and lords promised to King Arthur aid and help against the 
Romans." Arthur's reply to the demand for truage is thus 
given: " I will that ye return unto your lord and Procuror of 
the Conynon Weal for the Romans and say to him, Of his de- 
maud and commandment I set nothing, and that I know of no 
truage, ne tribute that I owe to him, ne to none other earthly 
prince, Christian ne heathen ; but I pretend to have and occupy 
the sovereignty of the empire, wherein I am entitled by the 
right of my predecessors, sometime kings of this land." 



48 IDYLLS OF TLIE KING 

And we that fight for our fair father Christ, 
Seeing that ye be grown too weak and old 510 

To drive the heathen from your Koman wall, 
No tribute will we pay : " so those great lords 
Drew back in wrath, and Arthur strove with Kome. 

And Arthur and his knighthood for a space 
Were all one will, and through that strength the 
King 515 

Drew in the petty princedoms under him, 
Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame 
The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reigned. 

511. your Roman wall. Agricola drew a line of military 
stations across the interval, about 40 miles in length, between 
the Firth of Forth and the Clyde ; afterwards, in the reign of 
Antoninus Pius, this line was fortified by a turf rampart erected 
on foundations of stone. The Emperor Hadrian caused a ram- 
part of earth to be erected between Newcastle and Carlisle, and 
Septimius Severus had a stone wall built parallel to Hadrian's 
rampart and in the same locality. Considerable traces of these 
walls may still be seen. 

517. twelve great battles. Some of these battles are enu- 
merated and described in Lancelot and Elaine. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 



Gareth and Lynette. — This poem was written in the spring 
and summer of 1872, and published in the autumn of that year. 
Tennyson said, in a note to that edition : " With this poem 
the Author concludes The IdyUs of the King.''' Afterwards 
Balin and Balan was written, and Enid was divided into 
two parts, thus giving the Arthurian epic its final form. 

According to Maccallum, who makes the time of the IdyUs 
twelve years, four years elapsed between the events described 
in The Coming of Arthur and those of Gareth and Lynette. 
Others estimate Arthur's reign as twenty-five years or more, 
eight years being spent in campaigns against the heathen. 

Tennyson's chief source of material for this poem was 
the seventh book of Malory's Morte Darthur, wherein is 
contained "the tale of Sir Garetli of Orkeney, that was 
called Beaumayns by Sir Kay." From what source Malory 
derived the story is unknown, but it has a mediaeval French 
rather than a Keltic flavor. For the first four hundred and 
thirty lines of his poem, Tennyson is indebted chiefly to his 
own invention, aided slightly by the story of Peredur in the 
Mabinogion. The poet modifies Malory's story, reducing 
the time of the action, ending it with the final encounter 
before the castle and marrying Gareth to Lynette ; whereas, 
in Malory, Gareth is refused admission to the castle, and 
sent on a quest by Dame Lyonors, who after many adven- 
tures becomes his bride. 

The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent, 
And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring' 

1. Lot, accordiug to Malory, was the king of Orkeney and 
Lothian. Bellicent was the daughter of Ygerne, who was the 
mother of King Arthur. 

2. See the remarks in the introduction on the way in which 
the IdyUs follow the course of the seasons. 

E 49 



50 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Stared at the spate. A slender-shafted Pine 
Lost footing, fell, and so was whirl' d away. 
"How he went down," said Gareth, "as a false 
knight 5 

Or evil king before my lance if lance 
Were mine to use — y senseless \cataract. 
Bearing all down in thy precipitancy — 
And yet thou art but swollen with cold snows 
And mine is living blood : thou dost His will, lo 
The Maker's, and not knowest, and I that know. 
Have strength and wit, in my good mother's hall 
Linger with vacillating obedience, 
Prison'd, and ke^ and coax'd and whistled to — 
Since the good mother holds me still a child ! 15 
Good mother is bad mother unto me ! 
A worse were better ; yet no worse would I. 
Heaven yield her for it, but in me put force 
To weary her ears with one continuous prayer. 
Until she let me fly discaged to sweep 20 

In ever-highering eagle-circles up 
To the great Sun of Glory, and thence swoop 
Down upon all things base, and dash them dead, 

3. spate, a Keltic word, meaning- river-flood. 

11. Ordinarily "and" would connect "that know" with 
"have strength and wit; " the omission gives emphasis. 

12. In what sense is the word " wit " here used ? 
14. As a caged hird. See lines 20-23. 

18. yield, reward, as in Elizabethan English. 

20. discaged. The word is stronger than " uncaged " because 
it implies reversal of the action of the verb, while " uncaged " 
merely expresses negation. Compare "discolored" and " un- 
colored," " dishonored " and " unhonored." 

21. ever-highering. Note the unusual use of " higher " as a 
verb, and compare it with the similar, more common, use of 
"lower." 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 51 

A knight of Artliiir, working out his will, 

To cleanse the world. Why, Gawain, when he 

came 25 

AVith Modred hither in the summertime, 
, Ask'd me to tilt with him, the proven knight. 
Modred for want of worthier was the judge. 
Then I so shook him in the saddle, he said, 
'Thou hast half prevailed against me,' said so — 

he — 30 

Tho' ^lodred biting his thin lips was mute, 
For he is alway sullen : what care I ? " 

And Gareth went, and hovering round her chair 
Ask'd, " Mother, tho' ye count me still the child. 
Sweet mother, do ye love the child ?" She laugh'd, 
" Thou art but a wild-goose to question it." 36 

" Then, mother, an ye love the child," he said, 
" Being a goose and rather tame than wild, 
Hear the child's story." " Yea, my well-beloved, 
An 'twere but of the goose and golden eggs." 40 

And Gareth answer'd her with kindling eyes, 
"Nay, nay, good mother, but this q^^ of mine 

25. Gawain, the eldest sou of Lot. "Gawain, surnamed 
the Courteous, fair and strong." He is represented hy Tenny- 
son as brave and graceful, but fickle and disloyal. The name 
is accented on either syllable according to the requirements of 
the meter. 

20. Modred. Tennyson departs from the old romances and 
represents Modred, also, as the brother of Gareth. Jealous, 
crafty, and evil of heart, Modred turned traitor to his king and 
brought ruin on himself and others. 

27. proven, tried; tested. 

37. an, if; an old use of the word. 

40. A fable, such as a child might tell or hear. 



52 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Was finer gold than any goose can lay ; 

For this an Eagle, a royal Eagle laid 

Almost beyond eye-reach, on such a palm 45 

As glitters gilded in thy Book of Hours. 

And there was ever haunting round the palm 

A lusty youth, but poor, who often saw 

The splendor sparkling from aloft, and thought 

' An I could climb and lay my hand upon it, 50 

Then were I wealthier than a leash of kings.' 

But ever when he reach'd a hand to climb, 

One, that had loved him from his childhood, cauglit 

And stay'd him, 'Climb not lest thou break thy neck, 

I charge thee by my love,' and so the boy, 55 

Sweet mother, neither clomb, nor brake his neck, 

And brake his very heart in pining for it. 

And past away." 

To Avhom the mother said, 
"True love, sweet son, had risk'd himself and 

climb'd, 
And handed down the golden treasure to him." 60 

And Gi^reth answer'd her with kindling eyes, 
" Gold ? igaid I gold ? — ay then, why he, or she, 

46. Book of Hours, a prayer book, illuminated in colors and 
gold, containing the prayers prescribed for the seven hours at 
which the Catholic Church orders that prayers be said. 

47. haunting, frequenting ; — the French hanter, resort to, 
haunt. 

51. a leash of kings, three kings. A leash was the thong 
by which a hawk or hound was held. Three dogs were usually 
leashed together, and the word came to be used in the sense of 
three creatures of a kind, or three in general. 

56. clomb, brake, old forms of the preterites of the verbs 
" climb " and " break." 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 53 

Or whosoe'er it was, or half the world 
Had ventured — had the thmg T spake of been 
Mere gold — but this was all of that true steel, 65 
AVhereof they forged the brand Excalibur, 
And lightnings play'd about it in the storm, 
And all the little fowl were flurried at it, 
And there were cries and clashings in the nest, 
That sent him from his senses : let me go." 70 

Then Bellicent bemoan'd herself and said, 
" Hast thou no x^ity upon my loneliness ? 
Lo, where thy father Lot beside the hearth 
'^Lies like a log, and all but smoulder'd out ! 
Eor ever since when traitor to the King 75 

He fought against him in the Barons' war. 
And Arthur gave hiiu back his territory. 
His age hath slowly droopt, and now lies there 
A yet-warm corpse, and yet unburiable, 
jSTo more ; nor sees, nor hears, nor speaks, nor 
knoAvs. cSo 

And both thy brethren are in Arthur's hall, 
Albeit neither loved with that full love 
I feel for thee, nor worthy such a love : 



66. brand Excalibur. Brand, from an Anglo-Saxon word, 
meaning burn, was a name applied to a sword, from the flashing 
of its blade. Excalibur was a wonderful sword of magic power, 
given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, to be surrendered 
again into her hands on the passing of the king. 

68. fowl, birds. 

76. Barons' war, the war waged against Arthur and his 
knights by those "barons, lords, and petty kings" who denied 
Arthur's Icingship. How they were defeated in a great battle 
is told in The Coming of Arthitr, lines 62-133. 

81. both thy brethren, Gawain and Modred. 



54 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Stay therefore thou ; red berries charm the bird, 
And thee, mine innocent, the jousts, the wars, 85 
Who never knewest finger-ache, nor pang 
Of wrench'd or broken limb — an often chance 
In those brain-stunning shocks, nu<1 tonmpy-faHsj 
Frights to my heart ; but stay : follow the deer 
By these tall firs and our fast-falling burns ; 90 

So make thy manhood mightier day by day ; 
Sweet is the chase : and I will seek thee out 
Some comfortable bride and fair, to grace 
Thy climbing life, and cherish my prone year, , 
Till falling into Lot's forgetfulness 95 

I know not thee, myself, nor anything. 
Stay, my best son ! ye are yet more boy than man." 

Then Gareth, " An ye hold me yet for child. 
Hear yet once more the story of the child. 
For, mother, there was once a King, like ours. 100 
The prince his heir, when tall and marriageable, 
Ask'd for a bride ; and thereupon the King 
Set two before him. One was fair, strong, arm'd — 
But to be won by force — and many men 
Desired her ; one, good lack, no man desired. 105 

8i. charm, allure. 

85. jousts, mock fights, in which kniohts tilted. 

87. often. Note the use of the adverb as an adjective, 

90. burns, streams ; an old English word still used in Scot- 
land and northern England. 

102. Gareth takes up his mother's words about a bride, and 
uses his tale of Shame and Fame, as an argument to urge his 
chivalric desire. 

104. But, only, — rather than, as usual, except only. 

105. good lack, an archaic expression implying surprise or 
pity. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 55 

And these were the conditions of the King : 

That save he won the first by force, he needs 

Mnst wed that other, whom no man desired, 

A red-faced bride who knew herself so vile. 

That evermore she long'd to hide herself, no 

Nor fronted man or woman, eye to eye — 

Yea — some she cleaved to, but they died of her. 

And one — they call'd her Fame; and one, — 

Mother, 
^ow can ye keep me tether'd to you — Shame. 
Man am I grown, a man's work must I do. 115 

Follow the deer ? follow the Christ, the King, 
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the 

King — 
Else, wherefore born ? " 

To whom the mother said, 
'^ Sweet son, for there be many who deem him not. 
Or will not deem him, wholly proven King — 120 
Albeit in mine own heart I knew him King, 
When I was frequent with him in my youth. 
And heard him Kingly speak, and doubted him 
No more than he, himself; but felt him mine. 
Of closest kin to me : yet — wilt thou leave 125 

Thine easeful biding here, and risk thine all, 

114. tether'd, fastened, as an animal tied in a pasture. 

116-118. The ideal of tlie Knights of the Round Table in 
these days of its prime. Read in Guinevej^e, lines 457-480, the 
vows by which the king bound his knights. 

119-129. Bellicent would fain use the doubt of Arthur's royal 
right as an argument with her son ; but in spite of herself her 
lips acknowledge, as her heart had always done, his kingship. 

124. She doubted him no more than he doubted himself. 

126. easeful biding, peaceful stay ; here, life at home. 



56 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Life, limbs, for one that is not proven King ? 
Stay, till the cloud that settles round his birth 
Hath lifted but a little. Stay, sweet son. 



jj 



And Gareth answer'd quickly, " Not an hour, 130 
So that ye yield me — I will walk thro' tire. 
Mother, to gain it — your full leave to go. 
Not proven, who swept the dust of ruin'd Rome 
From off the threshold of the realm, and crush'd 
The Idolaters, and made the people free ? 135 

Who should be King save him who makes us free ? " 

So when the Queen, who long had sought in vain 
To break him from the intent to which he grew, 
Found her son's will unwaveringly one, 
She answer'd craftily, " Will ye walk thro' fire ? 140 
Who walks thro' fire will hardly heed the smoke. 
Ay, go then, an ye must : only one proof, 
Before thou ask the King to make thee knight. 
Of thine obedience and thy love to me, 
Thy mother, — I demand." 145 

133-134. According to the old romances, Arthur refused to 
pay tribute to the Roman ambassadors, 

" Seeing Uiat ye be g-i-own too weak and old 
To drive the heathen from your Roman wall," 

and successfully defended himself against their attempts to 
compel the payment. There is no historical foundation for this 
statement. 

135. Idolaters, the heathen Saxon invaders whom Arthur 
" in twelve great battles overcame," according to the legends. 

139. unwaveringly one, always the same, desiring to go to 
Arthur's court. 

140. Gareth's impulsive words, "I will walk through fire," 
suggest to his mother a test which she trusts he will reject, — the 
smoky service of a kitchen knave. 

142. proof, test. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 57 

And Garetli cried, 
" A hard one, or a hundred, so I go. 
Xay — quick ! the proof to prove me to the quick ! " 

But_slowly spake the mother looking at him, 
" Prince, thou shalt go disguised to Arthur's hall, 
And hire thyself to serve for meats and drinks 150 
AmoDg the scullions and the kitchen-knaves. 
And those that hand the dish across the bar. 
Nor shalt thou tell thy name to anyone. 
And thou shalt serve a twelvemonth and a day." 

For so the Queen believed that when her 
son 155 

Beheld his only way to glory lead 
Low down thro' villain kitchen-vassalage, 
Her own true Gareth was too princely-proud g,^**-'^^' 
To pass thereby ; so should he rest with her. 
Closed in her castle from the sound of arms. 160 



147. the proof to prove me to the quick, the test to test me 
in the most sensitive part. Quick, from the Anglo-Saxon civic, 
alive, means living tlesh ; the feelings ; the part of body or 
mind most susceptible of feeling. 

149. Prince. She reminds her son of the rank which he must 
lay aside for the meanest servitude. 

151. kitchen-knaves, kitchen servants. Knave, from the 
Anglo-Saxon, cnafa, boy, came gradually to mean servant; 
thence, sly fellow; thence, villain. Can you trace the connec- 
tion of thought which underlies the changes in meaning ? 

152. across the bar, across the buttery bar, over which the 
kitchen servants handed the food to those waiting in the dining 
hall. 

154. a twelvemonth and a day, a full year. 

157. villain, low, base. Villain was originally a freeman of 
the lowest rank. It came to mean one low in manners and 
niorals also; hence, as now, a scoundrel, a rascal. 



58 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Silent awhile was Gareth, then replied, 
'^ The thrall in person may be free in soul, 
And I shall see the jousts. Thy son am I, 
And since thou art my mother, must obey. 
I therefore yield me freely to thy will ; 165 

For hence will I, disguised, and hire myself 
To serve with scullions and with kitchen-knaves ; 
Nor tell my name to any — no, not the King." 

Gareth awhile linger'd. The mother's eye 
Full of the wistful fear that he would go, 170 

And turning toward him wheresoe'er he turn'd, 
Perplext his outward purpose, till an hour. 
When waken'd by the wind which with full voice 
Swept bellowing thro' the darkness on to dawn, 
He rose, and out of slumber calling two 175 

That still had tended on him from his birth, 
Before the wakeful mother heard him, went. 

The three were clad like tillers of the soil. 
Southward they set their faces. The birds made 
Melody on branch, and melody in mid air. 180 

The damp hill-slopes were quicken'd into green, 
And the live green had kindled into flowers, 
For it was past the time of Easterday. 

1G2. thrall, an Auglo-Saxou word borrowed from the Norse, 
meauiug one who runs on errands ; hence, a servant. 

169. Note how the meter here gives the effect of delay. 

172. his outward purpose. His openly announced purpose to 
depart was yet inwardly disturbed by his unwillingness to cause 
his mother pain. 

176. still, always; continually. This is a use common in 
Elizabethan English. 



s^' 



,,>• 'GARETH AND lYXETTE 69 



So when their feet wer.e planted on the plain 
That broaden'd toward the base of Camelot, 185 

b'ar off they saw the silver-misty morn 
Eolling her smoke about the Royal mount, 
That rose between the forest and the field. 
At times the summit of the high city flash'd ; 
At times the spires and turrets half-way down 190 
Priek'd thro' the mist ; at times the great gate shone 
Only, that open'd on the field below : 
Anon, the whole fair city had disappear'd. 

Then those who went with Gareth were amazed, 
One crying, " Let us go no further, lord. 195 

Here is a city of Enchanters, built 
By fairy Kings." The second echo'd hiin, 
'^ Lord, we have heard from our wise man at home 
To Northward, that this King is not the King, 

185. Camelot, the city where Arthur held his court. Its loca- 
tion was vaguely indicated in the old romances ; Caxton says it 
was in Wales, and later writers have tried to identify it with the 
villages of Camel in Somersetshire. In a prose sketch, written 
about 1830, Tennyson says : " On the latest limit of the West, in 
the land of Lyonnesse, where, save the rocky Isles of Scilly, all 
is now wild sea, rose the sacred Mount of Camelot. It rose from 
the deeps with gardens and bowers and palaces, and at the top 
of the Mount was King Arthur's hall, and the holy Minster with 
the cross of gold. Here dwelt the king in glory apart, while the 
Saxons whom he had overthrown in twelve battles ravaged the 
land, and ever came nearer and nearer. 

" The Mount was the most beautiful in the world, sometimes 
green and fresh in the beam of morning, sometimes all one 
splendor, folded in the golden mists of the West. But all un- 
derneath it was hollow, and the mountain trembled when the 
seas rushed bellowing through the porphyry caves ; and there 
ran a prophecy that the mountain and the city, on some wild 
morning, would topple into the abyss and be no more." 

191. Priek'd, penetrated. What picturesque value has the 
word, as used here by the poet? 



GO IDYLLS OF THE KING 

But only changeling out of Fairyland, jizoo 

Who drave the heathen hence by sorcery 
And Merlin's glamour."' Then the tirst again, 
" Lord, there is no such city anywhere, 
But all a vision." 

Gareth answer'd them 
With laughter, swearing he had glamour enow 205 
In his own blood, his princedom, youth and hopes, 
To plunge old Merlin in the Arabian sea ; 
So push'd them all unwilling toward the gate. 
And there was no gate like it under heaven. 
For barefoot on the keystone, which was lined 210 
And rippled like an ever-fleeting wave. 
The Lady of the Lake stood : all her dress 

200. changeling. According to popular superstition, a child 
left by the fairies in place of one stolen from its cradle. For 
fuller account of the legends about Arthur's origin, read The 
Coming of Artfnir, lines 177-393. 

201. Note Tennyson's use of the strong old preterite, sor- 
cery, magic. 

202. glamour, enchantment. 

205. enow, an obsolete form of the word "enough." 

210. What is the keystone of an arch ? 

212-226. The Lady of the Lake. Tennyson gave to the water 
fairy of the old romance an allegorical, spiritual significance, 
making her represent religion. She it was who gave to King 
Arthur his sword Excalibur, representing, probably , the temporal 
power of the church. This passage " is an allegory of the power 
of religion in sustahiing the fabric of society. The forms of the 
church are forever changing and flowing like water, but her 
great arms are stretched out immovable like the cross. The 
sword is the symbol of her justice, the censer is the symbol of 
her adoration, and both bear the marks of time and strife. The 
drops that fall from her hands are the water of baptism, and 
the fish is the ancient sign of the name of Christ. The three 
queens who sit up aloft are the theological virtues of Faith, 
Hope, and Charity." — Van Dyke: The Poetry of Tennyson. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 61 

Wept from her sides as water flowing away ; 

But like the cross her great and goodly arms 

Stretched under all the cornice and upheld : 215 

And drops of water fell from either hand ; 

And down from one a sword was hung, from one 

A censer, either worn with wind and storm ; 

And o'er her breast floated the sacred fish; 

And in the space to left of her, and right, 220 

AVere Arthur's wars in weird devices done, 

Xew things and old co-twisted, as if Time 

Were nothing, so inveterately, that men 

Were giddy gazing there ; and over all 

High on the top were those three Queens, the friends 

Of Arthur, who should help him at his need. 226 

Then those with Gareth for so long a space 
Stared at the figures, that at last it seem'd 
The dragon-boughts and elvish emblemings 
Began to move, seethe, twine and curl : they call'd 
To Gareth, " Lord, the gateway is alive." 231 

216. either, each of two. 

217. sword. See Ephesiaus vi. 17. 

219. the sacred fish. The Greek word for fish is IXGTS, the 
letters of which form the initials of the phrase, 'It^ctoOs Xpiarbs 
Qeov Tibs Swriyp, Jesus Christ, Sou of God, Saviour. The fish 
thus came to be the symbol of Christian faith ; it was carved on 
the tombs of the catacombs, and the word was used as a watch- 
word by the persecuted Christians. 

221. Arthur's wars, representing, probably, the soul's battles. 

222. co-twisted, twisted together. 

223. inveterately, rather in the sense of inextricably than 
with its present meaning ; as if rooted and grown together. 

229. dragon-boughts, the bends and coils of the dragon's 
tail. The early English bought, of which bout is a form, meant 
bend or turn, elvish: mysterious, rather than, as usual, fairy- 
like. 



02 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And Garetli likewise on them fixt liis eyes 
So long, that ev'n to him they seem'd to move. 
Out of the city a blast of music pealM. 
Back from the gate started the three, to whom 235 
From out thereunder came an ancient man, 
Long-bearded, saying, " Who be ye, my sons ? " 

Then Gareth, " AYe be tillers of the soil. 
Who leaving share in furrow come to see 
The glories of our King : but these, my men, 240 
(Your city moved so weirdly in the mist) 
Doubt if the King be King at all, or come 
From Fairyland ; and whether this be built 
By magic, and by fairy Kings and Queens ; 
Or whether there be any city at all, 245 

Or all a vision : and this music now 
Hath scared them both, but tell thou these the truth." 

Then that old Seer made answer playing on him 
And saying, " Son, I have seen the good ship sail 
Keel upward, and mast downward, in the heavens, 
And solid turrets topsy-turvy in air : 251 

And here is truth ; but an it please thee not, 
Take thou the truth as thou hast told it me. 
For truly as thou sayest, a Fairy King 

239. share, plowshare. 

24S. Seer, literally, one who sees; hence, one who sees tliat 
which is hidden from others; a prophet; wizard, playing on 
him, making sport of him. Compare Hamlet, iii. 2. 380. 

249-251. He descrihes the effects of mirage, an optical illusion 
which makes distant ohjects appear near at hand and inverted. 

254-274. Elsdale, in his Studies in the Idylls, says: "The 
fairy king and fairy queens who come from a sacred mountain 
cleft towards the sunrise (that is, Parnassus) to build the city, 



GAltETH AND LYNETTE 63 

And Fairy Queens have built the city, son ; 255 

They came from out a sacred mountain-cleft 

Toward the sunrise, each with harp in hand, 

And built it to the music of their harps. 

And, as thou sayest, it is enchanted, son, 

For there is nothing in it as it seems 260 

Saving the King ; tho' some there be that hold 

The King a shadT^w, and the city real : 

Yet take thou heed of him, for, so thou pass 

Beneath this archway, then wilt thou become 

are the old mythologies whose l)ii-thplace was the East, the land 
of the rising sun. From them, besides the religions of the an- 
cient world, are derived poetry, architecture, sculpture; all 
those elevating and refining arts and sciences which were called 
into existence mainly and primarily as the expression and em- 
bodiment of religious feeling. These, with all that whole circle 
of unnumbered influences, mental, moral, or religious, derived 
from the experiences of the past, with wdiich they are associ- 
ated, constitute the city in which the soul dwells, — the sphere 
in which it w^orks, and the surrounding atmosphere in which it 
breathes. 

"The city is Imilt to music ; for as the harmony and proportion 
of sound constitute music, so the harmony and proportion of all 
the various elements and powers which go to make up the man 
will constitute a fitting shrine for the ideal soul. * Therefore 
never built at all ; ' for the process of assimilating and working 
up into one harmonious whole all the various external ele- 
ments is continually gohig on and unending. ' Therefore built 
forever ; ' for since harmonious and proportionate development 
is the continual law, the city will always be complete and at 
unity with itself." The poet would probably have said that the 
critic pressed the allegory too far. "Of course," said he, 
" Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces, is everywhere symbolic of 
the gradual growth of human beliefs and institutions, and of 
the spiritual development of man. Yet there is no single fact 
or incident in the Idylls, however seemingly mystical, which 
cannot be explained as without any mystery or allegory what- 
ever." 

258. Troy and Thebes were so built, according to the Greek 
leaends. 



64 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

A thrall to liis enchantments, for the King 265 

Will bind thee by such vows, as is a shame 
A man should not be bound by, yet the which 
No man can keep ; but, so thou dread to swear; 
Pass not beneath this gateway, but abide 
Without, among the cattle of the field. 270 

For an ye heard a music, like enow 
They .are building still, seeing the city is built 
To music, therefore never built at all. 
And therefore built for ever." 

Gareth spake 
Anger'd, " Old Master, reverence thine own beard 
That looks as white as utter truth, and seems 276 
Wellnigh as long as thou art statured tall ! 
Why mockest thou the stranger that hath been 
To thee fair-spoken ? " 

But the Seer replied, 
"Know ye not then the Eiddliiig of the Bards : 280 
^ Confusion, and illusion, and relation. 
Elusion, and occasion, and evasion ' ? 
I mock thee not but as thou mockest me. 
And all that see thee, for thou art not who 

275. thine own beard, the sign of your age. 

280. the Riddling of the Bards. Tlie Keltic bard was a poet 
who sang to the accompaniment of his harp the deeds of chiefs 
and kings ; he was often supposed to have prophetic powers. 
His prophecies were often so worded as to be, as here, of 
doubtful meaning; often they had one meaning to the ear, but 
were capable of a different interpretation, according to the 
event. 

283. This is a reference to Gareth's assertion, " We be till- 
ers of the soil." 



GARETII AND LYNETTE (jiy 

Thou seemest, but I know thee who thou art. 285 
And now thou goest up to mock the King, 
Who cannot brook the shadow of any lie." 

Unmockingly the mocker ending here 
Turn'd to the right, and past along the plain ; 
Whom Clareth looking after said, " My men, 290 
Our one white lie sits like a little ghost 
Here on the threshold of our enterprise. 
Let love be blamed for it, not she, nor I : 
Well, we will make amends.'' 

With all good cheer 
He spake and laugh'd, then enter'd with his twain 
Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces 296 

And stately, rich in emblem and the work 
Of ancient kings who did their days in stone; 
Which Merlin's hand, the Mage at Arthur's court. 
Knowing all arts, had touch'd, and everywhere 300 
At Arthur's ordinance, tipt with lessening peak 
And pinnacle, and had made it spire to heaven. 
And ever and anon a knight would pass 

287. brook, endure. 

291. Why does GarQth call his falsehood a " white lie " ? 

298. did their days in stone, left as record of their lives, 
Avorks of architecture and sculpture. 

299. Merlin, the famous magician of the old romances. He 
it was who received Arthur as a babe, and later had him 
crowned ; he — 

" Built the king his havens, ships, and halls. 
Was also Bard and knew the starry heavens ; 
The people called him Wizard." 

Read what is said about him in The Coming of Arthur and 
Merlin and Vivien. Mage, magician. 
r 



66 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Outward, or inward to the hall : his arms 
Clash'd ; and the sound was good to Glareth's ear. 305 
And out of bower and casement shyly glanced 
Eyes of pure women, wholesome stars of love 5 
And all about a healthful people stept 
As in the presence of a gracious king. 

Then into hall Gareth ascending heard 310 

A voice, the voice of Arthur, and beheld 
Ear over heads in that long-vaulted hall 
The splendour of the presence of the King 
Throned, and delivering doom — and look'd no 

more — 
But felt his young heart hammering in his ears, 315 
And thought, " Eor this half-shadow of a lie 
The truthful King will doom me when I speak."' 
Yet pressing on, tho' all in fear to find 
Sir Gawain or Sir Modred, saw nor one 
Nor other, but in all the listening eyes 320 

Of those tall knights, that ranged about the throne. 
Clear honor shining like the dewy star 
Of dawn, and faith in their great King, with pure 
Affection, and the light of victory, 
And glory gain'd, and evermore to g.iin. 325 

Then came a widow crying to the King, 
"A boon. Sir King ! Thy father, Uther, reft 

306. bower, chamber, as in old English. 

314. doom, judgment; decision for or against a person, but 
usually against him. 

321. ranged, stood in order. 

327. boon, a gift ; usually, that which is granted in answer 
to prayer. Uther, a king of the Britons, who succeeded his 



GARETH AND LYNKTTE 67 

From my dead lord a field with violence : 

For liowsoe'er at first he proffer'd gold, 

Yet, for the field was pleasant in our eyes 330 

We yielded not ; and then he reft us of it 

Perforce, and left us neither gold nor field. '^ 

Said Arthur, '' Whether would ye ? gold or field ? '' 
To whom the woman weeping, "Nay, my lord. 
The field was pleasant in my husband's eye." 



335 



And Arthur, '^ Have thy pleasant field again, 
And thrice the gold for Uther's use thereof. 
According to the years. No boon is here, 
But justice, so thy say be proven true. 
Accursed, who from the wrongs his father did 
Would shape himself a right ! " 



340 



And while she past. 
Came yet another widow crying to him, 
"A boon. Sir King! Thine enemy. King, am I. 
With thine own hand thou slewest my dear lord, 
A knight of Uther in the Barons' war, 345 

When Lot and many another rose and fought 
Against thee, saying thou wert basely born. 
I held with these, and loathe to ask thee aught. 

brother, Aurelius Ambrosius (or Emrys). Aurelius, says the 
historian Green, was '' a descendant of the last Roman general 
who claimed the purple as an emperor in Britain." 

330. for, because ; an archaic use of the word. 

333. Whether, which of the two. This is another archaism. 
See Matthew xxi. 31. 

337. thrice the gold, thrice the sum offered by Uther. 

340. Accursed, who, accursed be he who. 

348. held with these, took part with these. 



,<:^ 



(l<S IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Yet lo ! my husband's brother had my son 
Thrall'd in his castle, and hath starved him dead ; 
And standeth seized of that inheritance 351 

AVhich thou that slewest the sire hast left the son. 
So tho' I scarce can ask it thee for hate, 
Grant me some knight to do the battle for me. 
Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son." 3^5 

Then strode a good knight forward, crying to him, 
"A boon, Sir King I I am her kinsman, I. 
Give me to right her wrong, and slay the man." 

Then came Sir Kay, the seneschal, and cried, 359 
" A boon, Sir King I ev'n that thou grant her none, 
This railer, that hath mock'd thee in full hall — 
None ; or the wholesome boon of g3"ve and gag." 

But Arthur, " We sit King, to help the wrong'd 
Thro' all our realm. The woman loves her lord. 
Peace to thee, woman, with thy loves and hates ! 365 

351. seized, possessed of; origiually, took possession of by 
legal authority; theu took hold of by force, with or without 
right. 

355. wreak, an obsolescent word, meaning avenge; it takes 
as object either the name of the offense or, as here, of the 
person offended. 

359. Sir Kay, the foster brother of Arthur whom the king 
made steward of his house and lands : he was ill-tempered and 
rough of speech, seneschal, steward; originally, old (i.e., 
chief) servant. 

362. gyve, fetter, gag, an instrument inserted in the 
mouth to prevent speech. " In old times scolding women were 
sometimes tied in a chair called the ducking stool, and an iron 
muzzle (called a Branks, or gossip's l)ridle) was fastened on 
their heads." — Littledale. This instrument of punislunent was 
used in New England in colonial days. 



GAliETH AND LYNETTE 09 

The kings of old had doom'd thee to the flames, 
Aurelius Emrys would have scourged thee dead, 
And Uther slit thy tongue : but get thee hence — 
Lest that rough humor of the kings of old 
Return upon me ! Thou that art her kin, 370 

Go likewise ; lay him low and slay him not, 
But bring him here, that I may judge the right, 
According to the justice of the King : 
Then, be he guilty, by that deathless King 
Who lived and died for men, the man shall die." 375 

Then came in hall the messenger of Mark, 
A name of evil savor in the land, 
The Cornish king. In either hand he bore 
What dazzled all, and shone far-off as shines 
A fiejd of charloc k in the sudd en su" ,^ 380 

Between two showers, a cloth of palest gold. 
Which down he laid before the throne, and knelt. 
Delivering, that his lord, the vassal king. 
Was ev'n upon his way to Camelot ; 
For having heard that Arthur of his grace 385 

Had made his goodly cousin, Tristram, knight, 

366. had, would have. 

367. See note on line 327. 

376. Mark, the cowardly and treacherous king of Corn- 
wall; he murdered his own brother and his nephew, Tristram. 
Malory says that he was first the friend of Arthur, but Tenny- 
son represents him as the king's enemy throughout. 

380. charlock, the wild mustard, which has yellow blossoms. 

383. Delivering, reporting; giving the message. vassal, 
dependent; the original and the present meaning of the word 
is servant dependent; in feudal law, a vassal was one who 
held land of a superior, to whom he rendered homage and 
military service. 

386. goodly, having good qualities; well-favored, cousin, 



70 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And, for himself was of the greater state, 

Being a king, he trusted his liege-lord 

Would yield him this large honor all the more ; 

So pray'd him well to accept this cloth of gold, 390 

In token of true heart and fealty. 

Then Arthur cried to rend the cloth, to rend 
In pieces, and so cast it on the hearth. 
An oak-tree smoulder'd there. " The goodly knight ! 
What! shall the shield of Mark stand among 
these ? " 395 

For, midway down the side of that long hall 
A stately pile, — whereof along the front. 
Some blazon' d, some but carven, and some blank, 
There ran a treble range of stony shields, — 
Rose, and high-arching overbrow'd the hearth. 400 
And under every shield a knight w^as named : 
For this was Arthur's custom in his hall ; 
When some good knight had done one noble deed, 
His arms were carven only ; but if twain, 
His arms were blazon'd also ; but if none, 405 

The shield Avas blank and bare without a sign 
Saving the name beneath ; and Gareth saw 
The shield of Gawain blazon'd rich and brisrht, 



kinsman. Tristram was his nephew, the son of his sister. 
Cousin was " formerly applied to a near relative, generally not 
in the restricted modern sense." This is the Shakespearean use 
of the word. Tristram, one of the bravest knights of Arthur's 
court. 

391. fealty, loyalty ; especially that of a vassal to his over- 
lord. 

392. cried to rend, cried that they should rend. 

398. blazon'd, having his coat of arms painted on it. 

399. range, row. 



OARETH AND LYNETTE 71 

And Modred's blank as death ; and Arthur cried 
To rend the cloth and cast it on the hearth. 410 

" More like are we to reave him of his crown 
Than make him knight because men call him king. 
The kings we found, ye know we stay'd their hands 
From war among themselves, but left them kings ; 
Of whom were any bounteous, merciful, 415 

Truth-speaking, brave, good livers, them we enroll'd 
Among us, and they sit within our hall. 
But Mark hath tarnish'd the great name of king, 
As Mark would sully the low state of churl : 
And, seeing he hath sent us cloth of gold, 420 

Return, and meet, and hold him from our eyes, 
Lest we should lap him up in cloth of lead. 
Silenced for ever — craven — a man of plots. 
Craft, poisonous counsels, waj'side ambushings — 
No fault of thine : let Kay the seneschal 425 

Look to thy wants, and send thee satisfied — 
Accursed, who strikes nor lets the hand be seen ! '^ 

And many another suppliant crying came 
With noise of ravage wrought by beast and man. 
And evermore a knight would ride away. 430 

411. reave, deprive ; we still use the participle reft. 

419. churl, a man of humble birth, without its later acquired 
meaniug of rude aud sordid. Give in your own words the 
meaning of lines 417-418. 

422. lap, wrap; fold, cloth of lead: a coffin or winding 
sheet made of lead. 

423. craven, coward. 

425. No fault of thine. This is addressed to Mark's mes- 
senger. 

427. This was Mark's way. See the last line of The Last 
Tournament, 



72 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Last, Gareth leaning both hands heavily 
Down on the shoulders of the twain, his men, 
Approach'd between them toward the King, and 

ask'd, 
"A boon, Sir King (his voice was all ashamed), 
For see ye not how weak and hungerworn 435 

I seem — leaning on these? grant me to serve 
For meat and drink among thy kitchen-knaves 
A twelvemonth and a day, nor seek my name. 
Hereafter I will fight." 

To him the King, 
" A goodly youth and worth a goodlier boon ! 440 
But so thou wilt no goodlier, then must Kay, 
The master of the meats and drinks, be thine." 

He rose and past ; then Kay, a man of mien 
V' Wan-sallow as the plant that feels itself 
Root-bitten by white lichen, 



445 



" Lo ye now ! 
This fellow hath broken from some Abbey, where, 
God wot, he had not beef and brewis enow, 
However that might chance ! but an he work, 

431. From this point Tennyson follows, in the main, tlie 
story as told in Malory's Morte Darthur. 

430. seem, Gareth cannot bring himself to speak a direct 
falsehood to the king. 

444. Wan-sallow, colorless ; both words mean pale. 

444-445. A plant which is diseased because the sap is drawn 
away from its roots by a parasite lichen. 

447. God wot, Gofi knows, brewis, broth; literally, that 
which is boiled. 



GARETII AND LYNETTE 73 

^ Like any pi geon wiU I cram his crop. 
And sleeker shall he shine than any hog." 450 

Then Lancelot standing near, " Sir Seneschal, 
Sleuth-hound thou knowest, and gray, and all the 

hounds ; 
A horse thou knowest, a man thou dost not know : 
Broad brows and fair, a fluent hair and fine, 
High nose, a nostril large and fine, and hands 455 
Large, fair and fine ! — Some young lad's mystery — 
But, or from sheepcot or king's hall, the boy 
Is noble-natured. Treat him with all grace, 
Lest he should come to shame thy judging of him." 

Then Kay, "What murmurest thou of mystery? 
Think ye this fellow will poison the King's dish ? 
Nay, for he spake too fool-like : mystery ! 462 

Tut, an the lad were noble, he had ask'd 
For horse and armor: fair and fine, forsooth ! 
Sir Fine-face, Sir Fair-hands ? but see thou to it 465 
That thine own fineness, Lancelot, some fine day 
Undo thee not — and leave my man to me." 



449. crop, the craw of a bird. 

452. Sleuth-hound, a bloodhound which follows the sleuth, 
that is the track, of a man or beast, fluent, flowing; this is 
tlie literal meaning of the word, which is seldom used in prose 
except with reference to language. 

457. Whether of low birth or royal rank, the boy has a noble 
nature. 

461. Sir Kay possibly alludes to the poisoning of King 
Aurelius, Arthur's uncle. 

465. Sir Fair-hands. In Morte Darthur Sir Kay calls Gareth 
Beaumains, Pretty Hands, and by this name he is called 
throughout the story. 



74 *" IDYLLS OF THE KING 

♦' 
So Gareth all for glory underwent 
The sooty yoke of kitchen- vassalage ; 
Ate with yoang lads his portion by the door, 470 
And couch'cT at night with grimy kitchen-knaves. 
And LancfJot-ever spake him pleasantly, 
But Kay the seneschal, who loved him not, 
Would hustle and harry him, and labor him 
Beyond his comrade of the hearth, and set 475 

To turn the broach, draw water, or hew wood, 
Or grosser tasks ; and Gareth bowed himself 
With all obedience to the King, and wrought 
All kind of service with a noble ease 
That graced the lowliest act in doing it. 480 

And when the thralls had talk among themselves, 
And one would praise the love that linkt the King 
And Lancelot — how the King had saved his life 
In battle twice, and Lancelot once the King's — 
For Lancelot was the first in Tournament, 485 

But Arthur mightiest on the battle-field — 
Gareth was glad. Or if some other told. 
How once the wandering forester at dawn, 
Far over the blue tarns and hazy seas, 

469. The sooty yoke. Cliinmeys were unknown in England 
until after the thirteenth century ; the smoke from hall and 
kitchen fire escaped as best it could, through holes in walls and 
roof. "A sooty yoke" might be regarded as the badge of 
kitchen service. 

471. couch'd, stayed or sojourned by night ; an archaic use 
of the word. 

474. harry, here, annoy; literally, lay waste, as with an 
army. 

47(). broach, spit ; a small, pointed bar on which meats were 
put to roast. 

489. tarns, small mountain lakes, especially those which have 
no visible feeders. 



GARETII AND LYNETTE 75 

On Caer-Eryri's highest found the King, 490 

A naked babe, of whom the Prophet spake, 

"He passes to the Isle Avilion, 

He passes ^nd is heal'd and cannot die " — 

Gareth was glad. But if their talk were foul, 

Then would he whistle rapid as any lark, 495 

Or carol some old roundelay, and so loud 

That first they mock'd, but, after, reverenced him. 

Or Gareth telling some prodigious tale 

Of knights, who sliced a red life-bubbling way 

Thro' twenty folds of twisted dragon, held 500 

All in a gap-mouth'd circle his good mates 

Lying or sitting round him, idle hands, 

Charm'd'^ till Sir Kay, the seneschal, w^ould come 

Blustering upon them, like a sudden wind "^ ' 

Among dead leaves, and drive theiii all apart. 505 

Or when the thralls had sport among themselves, 

So there were any trial of mastery. 

He, by two yards in casting bar or stone 

Was counted best ; and if there chanced a joust. 

So that Sir Kay nodded him leave to go, 510 

Would hurry thither, and when he saw the knights. 



490. Caer-Eryri, Snowdon's summit. Eyri is the same word 
as eyrie, eagle's nest. 

492. Isle Avilion, the island valley of Avilion, called iu The 
Palace of Art the "Vale of Avalon." This fortmiate isle, or 
valley of perpetual summer, was the Keltic Paradise. "In 
those harrying days such an island refuge, sanctified by use and 
tradition, was a beatific vision, and men idealized it as they 
idealized the Island of the Blest, and gave to it every beautiful 
attribute they could imagine." 

49(5. roundelay, a poem which has a line, or lines, which 
comes round or is repeated again and again. 

504. Observe similes and metaphors drawn from Tennyson's 
observation of nature. 



76 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

S 
Clash like the coming and retiring jvave, 

And the spear spring, and good horse reel, the boy 

Was half beyond himself for ecstasy. 

So for a month he wronght among the thralls ; 515 
Bnt in the weeks that follow'd, the good Qneen, 
Repentant of the word she made him swear. 
And saddening in her childless castle, sent, 
Between the in-crescent and de-crescent moon, 
Arms for her son, and loosed him from his vow. 520 

This, Gareth hearing from a squire of Lot 
With whom he used to play at tourney once. 
When both were children, and in lonely haunts 
Would scratch a ragged oval on the sand, 
And each at either dash from either end — 525 

Shame never made girl redder than Gareth joy. 
He laugh'd ; he sprang. " Out of the smoke, at once 
I leap from Satan's foot to Peter's knee — 
These news be mine, none other's — nay, the 

King's — 
Descend into the city : " whereon he sought 530 

The King alone, and found, and told him all. 

" I have stagger'd thy strong Gawain in a tilt 
For pastime ; yea, he said it : joust can I. 

519. Between the increasing and decreasing moon, — that is 
to say, at full moon. 

524. A rough imitation of the tournament lists. 

528. Peter's knee, the gate of Heaven, of which the Apostle 
Peter was said to have the key. 

529. These news. News was formerly regarded as plural in- 
stead of singular as now. be, an old southern English form of 
the third person plural. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 77 

"Make me thy knight — in secret ! let my name 
Be hidden, and give me the first quest, I spring 535 
^Like flame from ashes." 

Here the King's calm eye 
Fell on, and check'd, and made him flush, and bow 
Lowly, to kiss his hand, who answered him, 
" Son, the good mother let me know thee here. 
And sent her wish that I would yield thee thine. 540 
Make thee my knight ? my knights are sworn to 

vows 
Of utter hardihood, utter gentleness. 
And, loving, utter faithfulness in love. 
And uttermost obedience to the King." 

Then Gareth, lightly springing from his knees, 
" My King, for hardihood I can promise thee. 546 
For uttermost obedience make demand 
Of whom ye gave me to, the Seneschal, 
ISTo mellow master of the meats and drinks ! 
And as for love, God wot, I love not yet, 550 

But love I shall, God willing." 

And the King — 
" IMake thee my knight in secret ? yea, but he. 
Our noblest brother, and our truest man, 
And one with me in all, he needs must know." 

535. quest, search, especially one of knightly adventure. 

540. yield thee thine, grant you the place which belongs to 
you by right of birth. 

5-1:2. utter, literally, outer; beyond limits; hence, as here, 
entire; greatest, hardihood, boldness in action, especially in 
encountering difficulty or danger. 

549. mellow, mild and sweet, like fully ripe fruit. 



78 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

" Let Lancelot know, my King, let Lancelot know, 
Thy noblest and thy truest!" 

And the King — 556 
" But wherefore would ye men should wonder at you ? 
Nay, rather for the sake of me, their King, 
And the deed's sake my knighthood do the deed. 
Than to be noised of." 

Merrily Garetli ask'd, 560 
" Have I not earn'd my cake in baking of it ? 
Let be my name until I make ni}^ name ! 
My deeds will speak : it is but for a day." 
So with a kindly hand on Gareth's arm 
Smiled the great King, and half-unwillingly 565 
Loving his lusty youthhood yielded to him. 
Then, after summoning Laucelot privily, 
" I have given him the first quest : he is not proven. 
Look therefore when he calls for this in hall, 
Thou get to horse and follow him far away. 570 

Cover the lions on thy shield, and see 
Far as thou mayest, he be nor ta'en nor slain." 

Then that same day there past into the hall 
A damsel of high lineage, and a brow 

561. Observe Gareth's allusions to his kitchen vassalage. 

566. According to Malory, Gareth was knighted by Laucelot 
to whom, and not to the king, he revealed his name after an 
encounter between them. This encounter, which Malory de- 
scribes as taking place at the beginning of Gareth's quest, 
Tennyson represents as occurring near its end. 

570. far away, at a distance. 

571. lions on thy shield. Tennyson describes Lancelot's coat 
of arms as being azure lions rampant, crowned with gold. 



OAIiETH AND LYUETTE 79 

Ma3^-blossom, and a cheek of apple-blossom, 5-5 
^ Hawk-eyes ; and liglitly was her slender nose ^ 
Tip-tilted like the petal of a flower ; 
She into hall past with her page and cried, 

^^ King, for thon hast driven the foe without, 
See to the foe within ! bridge, ford, beset 580 

By bandits, everyone that owns. a tower 
The Lord for half a league. Why sit ye there ? 
E-est would I not. Sir King, an I were king. 
Till ev'n the lonest hold w^ere all as free 
From cursed bloodshed, as thine altar-cloth 585 

From that best blood it is a sin to spill." 

"Comfort thyself,-' said Arthur, "I nor mine 
Kest : so my knighthood keep the vows they swore, 
The wastest moorland of our realm shall be 
Safe, damsel, as the centre of this hall. 590 

What is thy name ? thy need ? " 

" My name ? " she said — 
'•'Lynette my name; noble; my need, a knight 
To combat for my sister, Lyonors, 
A lady of high lineage, of great lands. 
And comely, yea, and comelier than myself. 595 

She lives in Castle Perilous : a river 



575. May-blossom, the white hawthorns, which blooms in the 
month of May. 

581. bandits, robbers; originally, proclaimed outlaws. 
584. the lonest hold, the loneliest, most remote castle. 

586. that best blood, the sacramental wine, typical of the 
blood of Christ. 

587. I nor mine, neither I nor mine. 



80 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Rims in three loops about her liviiig-})lace ; 

And o'er it are three passings, and three knights 

Defend the passings, brethren, and a fourth 

And of that four the mightiest, hokls her stay'd 600 

In her own castle, and so besieges her 

To break her will, and make her wed with him : 

And but delays his purport till thou send 

To do the battle with him, thy chief man 

Sir Lancelot whom he trusts to overthrow, 605 

Then wed, with glory : but she will not wed 

Save whom she loveth, or a holy life. 

Now therefore have I come for Lancelot." 

Then Arthur mindful of Sir Gareth ask'd, 
" Damsel, ye know this (Jrder lives to crush 610 

All wrongers of the Realm. But say, these four. 
Who be they ? What the fashion of the men ? " 

"They be of foolish fashion, Sir King, 
The fashion of that old knight-errantry 
Who ride abroad, and do but what they wdll ; 615 
Courteous or bestial from the moment such 
As have nor law nor king ; and three of these 
Proud in their fantasy call themselves the Day, 
Morning-Star, and Noon-Sun, and Evening-Star, 
Being strong fools ; and never a whit more wise 620 
The fourth, who always rideth arm'd in black, 
A huge man-beast of boundless savagery. 

603. purport, purpose. 
607. a holy life, that of a nun. 

610. this Order, that of the Knights of the Round Table. 
616. from the moment, according to the whim of the 
moment. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 81 

He names himself the Night and oftener Death, 
And wears a hehiiet mounted with a skull, 
And bears a skeleton figured on his arms, 625 

To show^ that who may slay or scape the three. 
Slain by himself, shall enter endless night. 
And all these four be fools, but mighty men, 
And therefore am I come for Lancelot." 

Hereat 8ir Gareth call'd from where he rose, 630 
A head with kindling eyes above the throng, 
"A boon, Sir King — this quest!" then — for he 

marked 
Kay near him groaning like a wounded bull — 
" Yea, King, thou knowest thy kitchen-knave am I, 
And mighty thro' thy meats and drinks am I, 635 
And I can topple over a hundred such. 
Thy promise, King," and Arthur glancing at him, 
Brought down a momentary brow. " Eough, sudden, 
And pardonable, worthy to be knight — 
Go therefore," and all hearers were amazed. 640 

But on the damsel's forehead shame, pride, wrath 
Slew^ the ]\Iay-wdiite : she lifted either arm, 

624. mounted, surmounted. 

()26. scape, escape, — of which, however, it is not a shortened 
form. Compare "state" and "estate," similar independent 
words. 

0.34. Why does Gareth proclaim himself a kitchen-knave in- 
stead of revealing the fact that he is a prince ? 

641-2. Give in your own words the meaning of this sentence. 

642. Littledale says : " Althongli Tennyson's Lynette reviles 
Gareth for a time, she does it through indignation at the affront 
that she supposes Arthur to have put upon herself and her 
sister by his sending a kitchen-knave to be their champion. 
She is not really a ' damoysel saveage,' but an independent and 
higli-spirited girl, with some sharpness of tongue and some pride, 



82 



IDYLLS OF THE KING 



'' Fie on thee, King ! I ask'd for tliy chief knight, 
And thou hast given me but a kitchen-knave." 
Then ere a man in hall could stay her, turn'd, 645 
Fled down the lane of access to the King, 
Took horse, descended the slope street, and past 
The weird white gate, and paused without, beside 
The field of tourney, murmuring " kitchen-knave.' 

ISlow two great entries open'd from the hall. 
At one end one, that gave upon a range 
Of level pavement where the King would pace 
At sunrise, gazing over plain and wood ; ^^^ 

And down from this a lordly stairway sloped 
Till lost in blowing trees and tops of towers ; 
And out by this main doorway past the King. 
But one was counter to the hearth, and rose 
High that the highest-crested helm could ride 
Therethro' nor graze : and by this entry fled 
The damsel in her wrath, and on to this 
Sir Gareth strode, and saw without the door 
King Arthur's gift, the worth of half a town, 
A warhorse of the best, and near it stood 
The two that out of north had follow'd him : 
This bare a maiden shield, a casque; that held 665 




655 



660 



though of a subduable sort." Study the character of Lynette, 
and see to what extent you agree with this estimate of it. 

(i4(). lane, here used in its original sense of narrow passage ; 
the way through the crowd, wliich led to the king. 

r)47. slope, sloping. 

651. gave upon, opened on. 

655. blowing, blossoming. 

658. that, so that, a use common in Elizabethan English. 

61)5. maiden shield, a shield without a coat of arms, belonging 
to the knight who was yet to be proved. Compare the phrases 
" maiden knight " and " maiden speech." casque, helmet. 



OARETH AND LYNETTE 



^ 



The horse, the spear ; whereat Sir Gareth loosed 
A cloak that dropt from collar-bone to heel, 
A cloth of roughest web, and cast it down, 
And from it like a fuel-smother'd fire, ^ 
That lookt half-dead, brake bright, and flash'd as 
those 670 

Dull-coated things, that making slide apart 
Their dusk wing-cases, all beneath there burns 
A jewell'd harness, ere they pass and fly. 
So Gareth ere he parted flash'd in arras. ^ 
Then as he donn'd the helm, and took the shield 675 
And mounted horse and graspt a spear, of grain 
Storm-strengthen'd on a windy site, and tipt 
\\i\\\ trenchant steel, around him slowly prest 
The people, while from out of kitchen came 
The thralls in throng, and seeing who had work'd 
Lustier than any, and whom they could but love, 681 
Mounted in arms, threw up their caps and cried, 
" God bless the King, and all his fellowship ! " 
And on thro' lanes of shouting Gareth rode 
Down the slope street, and past without the gate. 685 

^ So Gareth past with joy; but as the cur ^■ 

Tluckt from the cur he fights with, ere his cause 
Be cool'd by fighting, follows, being named, 

670-673. Compare with this description the passage in The 
TiDO Voices describing the egress of the dragon fly from its 
chrysalis. 

673. harness, armor ; especially the defensive armor of a 
knight and his horse. 

674. Malory represents Gareth as being withont shield and 
spear nntil he wins' them in the contest with Sir Kay. 

675. donn'd, pnt on. 

687. his cause, the feeling which led him to fight. 



^4 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

His owner, but remembers all, and growls 
Remembering, so Sir Kay beside the door 690 

Mutter'd in scorn of Gareth whom he used 
To harry and hustle. ^ 

'•'■ Bound upon a quest 
With horse and arms — the King hath past his 

time — 
My scullion knave ! Thralls to your work again. 
For an your fire be low ye kindle mine ! 695 

Will there be dawn in West and eve in East ? 
Begone ! — my knave ! — belike and like enow 
iSome old head-blow not heeded in his youth 
So shook his wits they wander in his prime — 
(.'razed ! How the villain lifted up his voice, 700 
Nor shamed to bawl himself a kitcheii-knave. 
Tut : he was tame and meek enow with me, 
Till peacock'd up with Lancelot's noticing. 
Well — I will after my loud knave, and learn 
Whether he know me for his master yet. 705 

Out of the smoke he came, and so my lance 
Hold, by God's grace, he shall into the mire — 
Thence, if the King awaken from his craze, 
Into the smoke again." 

But Lancelot said, 
" Kay, wherefore wilt thou go against the King, 710 
For that did never he whereon ye rail, 



693. past his time, entered his dotage. 
695. What double meaning has fire in this line? 
703. peacock'd, rendered vain; an archaic use of the word. 
The peacock, in modern simile, is the type of vainglory. 



GARETII AND LYNETTE 85 

I5ut ever meekly served the King in thee? 

Abide : take counsel ; for this lad is great 

And lusty, and knowing both of lance and sword." 

"Tut, tell not me," said Kay, ''ye are overfine 715 

To mar stout knaves with foolish courtesies : " 

Then mounted, on thro' silent faces rode 

Down the slope city, and out beyond the gate. 



720 



But by the field of tourney lingering yet 
Mutter'd the damsel, " Wherefore did the King 
Scorn me ? for, were Sir Lancelot lackt, at least 
He might have yielded to me one of those 
Who tilt for lady's love and glory here, 
Rather than — sweet heaven ! fie upon him — 
His kitchen-knave." 



72 



To whom Sir Gareth drew 
(And there were none but few goodlier than he) 
Shining in arms, " Damsel, the quest is mine. 
Lead, and I follow." She thereat, as one 
That smells a foul-flesh'd agaric in the holt, 
And deems it carrion of some woodland thing, 730 
Or shrew, or weasel, nipt her slender nose 

717-718. Compare the departure of Sir Kay with that of 
Gareth, lines 680-685. 

721. lackt, missing; not obtainable, as in Elizabethan 
English. 

726. none but few, only a few. 

729. agaric, a fungus, some species of which are offensive in 
smell, holt, wood, — as in Chaucer, 

" Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breth 
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth." 

730. carrion, carcass; dead, decaying flesh. 



86 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

With petulant thumb and finger, shrilling, " Hence I 
Avoid, thou smellest all of kitchen-grease. 
And look who comes behind," for there was Kay. 
" Knowest thou not me ? thy master ? I am Kay. 735 
We lack thee by the hearth." 

And Gareth to him, 
" Master no more ! too well I know thee, ay — 
The most ungentle knight in Arthur's hall." 
" Have at thee then," said Kay : they shock'd, and 

Kay 
Fell shoulder-slipt, and Gareth cried again, 740 

" Lead, and I follow," and fast away she fled. 

But after sod and shingle ceased to fly 
Behind her, and the heart of her good horse 
Was nigh to burst with violence of the beat. 
Perforce she stay'd, and overtaken spoke. 745 

" What doest thou, scullion, in my fellowship ? 
Deem'st thou that I accept thee aught the more 
Or love thee better, that by some device 
Full cowardly, or by mere unhappiness, 
Thou hast overthrown and slain thy master — 
thou ! — 750 

Dish-washer and broach-turner, loon! — to me 
Thou smellest all of kitchen as before." 

739. Have at thee, take care; be on your guard; a warning 
of attack, shock'd, came together in fight. 

742. shingle, coarse, round gravel, such as is found on the 
seashore. 

74H. fellowship, company. 

749. unhappiness, bad luck. Happy originally meant lucky. 

751. loon, base fellow. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 



" Damsel," Sir Garetli answer'd gently, " say 
Whate'er ye will, but whatsoe'er ye say, 
I leave not till I finish this fair quest, 
Or die therefore." 



755 



" Ay, wilt thou finish it ? 
Sweet lord, how like a noble knight he talks ! 
The listening rogue hath caught the manner of it. 
But, knave, anon thou shalt be met with, knave, 
And then by such a one that thou for all 760 

The kitchen brewis that was ever supt 
Shalt not once dare to look him in the face." 

" I shall assay," said Gareth with a smile 
That madden'd her, and away she flash'd again 
Down the long avenues of a boundless wood, 765 
And Gareth following was again beknaved. 

" Sir Kitchen-knave, I have miss'd the only way 
Where Arthur's men are set along the wood ; 
The wood is nigh as full of thieves as leaves : 
If both be slain, I am rid of thee ; but yet, 770 

Sir Scullion, canst thou use that spit of thine ? 
Fight, an thou canst : I have miss'd the only way." 

So till the dusk that follow'd evensong 
Eode on the two, reviler and reviled; 

763, assay, endeavor. 

766. beknaved, called knave. The prefix sometimes adds this 
sense of naming or calling to a verb, but more frequently has the 
force of making, or making like; as, "bedrench," "bedeafen." 

771. spit, sword, — so-called with contemptuous reference to 
Gareth's kitchen vassalage. 

773. evensong, vespers, the church services held about sunset. 



88 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

,^^'hen after one long slope was mounted, saw 775 
Bowl-shaped, thro' tops of many thousand pmes 
A gloomy-gladed hollow slowly sink 
To westward — in the deeps whereof a mere, 
Kound as the red eye of an Eagle-owl, 
Under the half -dead sunset glared ; and shouts 780 
Ascended, and there brake a servingman 
Flying from out of the black wood, and crying, 
" They have bound my lord to cast him in the mere." 
Then Gareth, " Bound am I to right the wrong'd. 
But straitlier bound am 1 to bide with thee." 785 
And when the damsel spake contemptuously, 
'•' Lead, and I follow," Gareth cried again, 
'• Follow, I lead ! " so down among the pines 
He plunged ; and there, blackshadow'd nigh the mere. 
And mid-thigh-deep in bulrushes and reed, 790 

Saw six tall men haling a seventh along, 
A stone about his neck to drown him in it. 
Three with good blows he quieted, but three 
Fled thro' the pines ; and Gareth loosed the stone 
From off his neck, then in the mere beside 795 

778. mere, a pool, usually of stagnant water. The original 
meaning of the word is dead ; hence, stagnant. 

779. Eagle-owl, a large species of owl, found occasionally in 
Great Britain. 

779-780. " The comparison between the pool, gleaming red in 
the twilight, and the eye of an eagle-owl, burning round and 
bright in the darkness, may have the fault of being too un- 
common to really illustrate the description, but it is a simile 
that an ornithologist can appreciate. Indeed, a book might be 
written on the bird lore of Tennyson, as has been well done by 
Mrs. Harting in the case of Sliakspeare." — Littledale. 

785. straitlier, more strictly. 

791. haling, an old form of hauling, meaning, draw violently. 

793. quieted, in the silence of death. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 89 

Tumbled it ; oilily bubbled up the mere. 
Last, Gareth loosed his bouds and on free feet 

Set him, a stalwart Baron, Arthur's friend. 

^'- ^^ 

"Well that ye came, or else these caitiff rogues 
Had wreak'd themselves on me ; good cause is theirs 
To hate me, for my wont hath ever been Soi 

To catch my thief, and then like vermin here 
Drown him, and with a stone about his neck ; 
And under this wan water many of them 
Lie rotting, but at night let go the stone, 805 

And rise, and flickering in a grimly light 
Dance on the mere. Good now, ye have saved a life 
Worth somewhat as the cleanser of this wood. 
And fain would I reward thee worshipfully. 
What guerdon will ye ? " 

Gareth sharply spake, 810 
"None! for the deed's sake have I done the deed. 
In uttermost obedience to the King. 
But wilt thou yield this damsel harborage ? '' 

799. caitiff, base. Caitiff, originally meaning captive, came 
by degrees to signify one worthless or wicked ; a scoundrel. 

800. wreak'd. See line 303. 

802. my thief, the thief in the woods of which he was " the 
cleanser." vermin, any small, obnoxious animal. 

80-1. wan, pale ; hence, colorless ; hence, as here, dark. Wan 
is an epithet often applied to water in the old ballad poetry. 

806. grimly, grim; an unusual use of the adverb for the 
adjective. 

809. fain, gladly, worshipfully, with fitting dignity and 
respect. 

810. guerdon, reward; something given as acknowledgment 
of merit or service. 

813. harborage, lodging; place of shelter, — originally, for 
an army. 



90 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Whereat the Baron saying, " I well believe 
You be of Arthur's Table," a light laugh 815 

Broke from Lynette, " Ay, truly of a truth. 
And in a sort, being Arthur's kitchen-knave ! — 
But deem not I accept thee aught the more, 
Scullion, for running sharply with thy spit 
Down on a rout of craven foresters. 820 

A thresher with his flail had scatter'd them. 
Nay — for thou smellest of the kitchen still. 
But an this lord will yield us harborage. 
Well." 

So she spake. A league beyond the wood, 
All in a full-fair manor and a rich, 825 

His towers where that day a feast had been 
Held in high hall, and many a viand left, 
And many a costly cate, received the three. 
And there they placed a peacock in his pride 
Before the damsel, and the Baron set 830 

Gareth beside her, but at once she rose. 

" Meseems, that here is much discourtesy. 
Setting this knave. Lord Baron, at my side. 
Hear me — this morn I stood in Arthur's hall, 

815. Arthur's Table, the Round Table, the order of knight- 
hood founded by King Arthur. Its members were bound by 
their vows to courtesy and courage. 

820. rout, originally, a defeat, breaking the rank of a body 
of troops; hence, a disorderly flight; or, as here, a disorderly 
crowd; rabble. 

828. cate, food ; often rich food ; dainty. 

829. peacock in his pride, a peacock adorned with its own 
gay plumage. This was a dish often served at mediaival banquets 
of state. 

832. Meseems, it seems to me.. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 91 

And pray'd the King would grant me Lancelot S35 

To fight the brotherhood of Day and Night — 

The last a monster unsubduable 

Of any save of him for whom I call'd — 

Suddenly bawls this frontless kitchen-knave, 

' The quest is mine ; thy kitchen-knave am I, 840 

And mighty thro' thy meats and drinks am I.' 

Then Arthur all at once gone mad replies, 

'■ Go therefore,' and so gives the quest to him — 

Him — here — a villain fitter to stick swine 

Than ride abroad redressing women's wrong, 845 

Or sit beside a noble gentlewoman." 

Then half-ashamed and part-amazed, the lord 
Now look'd at one and now at other, left 
The damsel by the peacock in his pride. 
And, seating Gareth at another board, 850 

Sat down beside him, ate and then began. 

'^ Friend, whether thou be kitchen-knave, or not. 
Or whether it be the maiden's fantasy. 
And whether she be mad, or else the King, 
Or both or neither, or thyself be mad, 855 

I ask not : but thou strikest a strong stroke. 
For strong thou art and goodly therewithal, 
And saver of my life ; and therefore now. 
For here be mighty men to joust with, weigh 
Whether thou wilt not with thy damsel back 860 

830. frontless, bold ; shameless. 

844. stick swine, butcher swine, by sticking a knife into the 
throat. 

847. Why was the knight " half-ashamed " ? Compare his 
treatment of Gareth with Lynette's. 



92 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

To crave again Sir Lancelot of the King. 
Thy pardon ; I but speak for thine avail, 
The saver of my life." 

And Gareth said, 
" Full pardon, but I follow up the quest, 
Despite of Day and Night and Death and Hell." 865 

So when, next morn, the lord whose life he saved 
Had, some brief space, convey'd them on their way 
And left them with God-speed, Sir Gareth spake, 
" Lead, and I follow." Haughtily she replied, 

"I fly no more : I allow thee for an hour. S70 

Lion and stoat have isled together, knave, 
In time of flood. Nay, furthermore, methinks 
Some ruth is mine for thee. Back wilt thou, fool ? 
For hard by here is one will overthrow 
And slay thee : then will I to court again, 875 

And shame the King for only yielding me 
My champion from the ashes of his hearth." 

To whom Sir Gareth answer'd courteously, 
" Say thou thy say, and I will do my deed. 
Allow me for mine hour, and thou wilt find 880 



862. avail, advantage. 

871. stoat, a small animal of the weasel kind, isled, lodged 
together in the same island. " It is a well known fact that wild 
animals, under the influence of terror of either water or fire, 
will take refuge on the same place and not molest one another. 
There are some famous pictures of the Deluge that illustrate 
such occurrences." — Littledale. 

873. ruth, pity ; compassion. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 93 

My fortunes all as fair as hers who lay 
Among the ashes and wedded the King's son.'' 

Then to the shore of one of those long loops ' 
Wherethro' the ser pen t river coil'd, they came. 
Rough thicketed were the banks and steep ; the stream 
Fall, narrow ; this a bridge of single arc 886 

Took at a leap ; and on the further side 
Arose a silk pavilion, gay with gold 
In streaks and rays, and all Lent-lil^ in hue, 
Save that the dome was purple, and above, 890 

Crimson, a slender banneret fluttering. 
And therebefore the lawless warrior paced 
Unarm'd, and calling, "Damsel, is this he. 
The champion thou hast brought from Arthur's hall ? 
For whom we let thee pass." " Nay, nay," she said, 
" Sir Morning-Star. The King in utter scorn 896 
Of thee and thy much folly hath sent thee here 
His kitchen-knave : and look thou to thyself : 
See that he fall not on thee suddenly. 
And slay thee unarm'd : he is not knight but knave." 

Then at his call, i- daughters of the Dawn, 901 
And servants of the Morning-Star, approach. 
Arm me," from out the silken curtain-folds 
Bare-footed and bare-headed three fair girls 
In gilt and rosy raiment came : their feet 905 

In dewy grasses glisten'd ; and the hair 

881. hers, Cinderella's. The story is ancient and widespread. 

888. pavilion, tent. 

889. Lent-lily, the yellow daffodil, so-called because it blos- 
soms about the time of I^ent. 

891. banneret, a small flag; especially, one suspended from 
the end of a lance. 



W 



94 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

All over glanced with dewdrop or with gem 

Like sparkles in the stone Avanturine. 

These arm'd him in blue_arms, and gave a shield 

Blue also, and thereon the morning star. 910 

And Gareth silent gazed upon the knight, 

Who stood a moment, ere his horse was brought, 

Glorying ; and in the stream beneath him, shone 

Immingled with Heaven's azure waveringly. 

The gay pavilion and the naked feet, 915 

His arms, the rosy raiment, and the star. 

Then she that watch'd him, "Wherefore stare 

ye so? 
Thou shakest in thy fear : there yet is time : 
Flee down the valley before he get to horse. 
Who will cry shame ? Thou art not knight but 

knave." 920 

Said Gareth, "Damsel, whether knave or knight. 
Far liefer had I fight a score of times 
Than hear thee so missay me and revile. 
Fair words were best for him who fights for thee ; 
But truly foul are better, for they send 925 

That strength of anger thro' mine arms, I know 
That I shall overthrow him." 

And he that bore 
The star, when mounted, cried from o'er the bridge, 
" A kitchen-knave, and sent in scorn of me ! 

908. Avanturine, a kind of quartz coutaining sparkling scales 
of mica. The word is more correctly spelled aveuturine. 

922. liefer, rather, — an archaic word. 

923. missay, slander; say ill of me, — an archaic use of the 
word. . 



GARETH AND LYNKTTE 95 

Such fight not I, but answer scorn witli scorn. 930 
For this were sliame to do him further wrong 
Than set him on his feet, and take his horse 
And arms, and so return him to the King. 
Come, therefore, leave thy lady lightly, knave. 
Avoid : for it beseemeth not a knave 
To ride with such a lady." 



935 



" Dog, thou liest. 
I spring from loftier lineage than thine own." 
He spake ; and all at fiery speed the two 
Shock'd on the central bridge, and either spear 
Bent but not break, and either knight at once, 940 
Hurl'd as a stone from out of a catapult 
Beyond his horse's crupper and the bridge, 
Fell, as if dead ; but quickly rose and drew, 
And Gareth lash'd so iiercely with his brand 
He drave his enemy backward down the bridge, 945 
The damsel crying, " AY ell-stricken, kitchen-knave ! " 
Till Gareth's shield was cloven ; but one stroke 
Laid him that clove it grovelling on the ground. 



934. lightly, quickly, — an archaism. 

935. Avoid, go away; leave your place; the original mean- 
ing of avoid is make empty, beseemeth, is becoming or suita- 
ble to. 

937. "Why does Gareth here first declare his rank, instead of 
revealing it to Sir Kay, Lynette, or the lord whom he rescued 
in the wood ? 

939. central bridge, the center of the bridge. 

941. catapult, an ancient engine of warfare, used for throw- 
ing missiles, such as spears and stones. 

1^)43. drew, drew their swords, to continue the fight. 

946. Well-stricken, well struck, — an old form of the parti- 
ciple. 

948. grovelling, lying prostrate, or on the face. 



90 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Then cried the fall'n, " Take not my life : I yield." 
And Gareth, " So this damsel ask it of me 950 

Good — I accord it easily as a grace." 
She reddening, " Insolent scullion : I of thee ? 
I bound to thee for any favor ask'd ! " 
"Then shall he die." xlnd Gareth there unlaced 
His helmet as to slay him, but she shriek' d, 955 

" Be not so hardy, scullion, as to slay 
One nobler than thyself." "Damsel, thy charge 
Is an abounding pleasure to me. Knight, 
Thy life is thine at her command. Arise 
And quickly pass to Arthur's hall, and say 960 

His kitchen-knave hath sent thee. See thou crave 
His pardon for thy breaking of his laws. 
Myself, when I return, will plead for thee. 
Thy shield is mine — farewell ; and, damsel, thou, 
Lead, and I follow." 

And fast away she fled. 965 
Then when he came upon her, spake, " Methought, 
Knave, when I watch'd thee striking on the bridge 
The savor of thy kitchen came upon me 
A little faintlier : but the wind hath changed : 
I scent it twenty-fold." And then she sang, 970 
" ' morning star ' (not that tall felon there 
Whom thou by sorcery or unhappiness 
Or some device, hast foully overthrown), 
' morning star that smilest in the blue, 
O star, my morning dream hath proven true, 975 
Smile sweetly, thou ! my love hath smiled on me.' 

956. hardy, bold. 

971. felon, criminal; oue wicked in heart or act; originally, 
a traitor. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 97 

" But thou begone, take counsel, and away, 
For hard by here is one that guards a ford — 
The second brother in their fool's parable — 
Will pay thee all thy wages, and to boot. 9S0 

Care not for shame : thou art not knight but knave." 

To whom Sir Gareth answer'd, laughingly, 
" Parables ?• Hear a parable of the knave. 
When I was kitchen-knave among the rest 
Fierce was the hearth, and one of my co-mates 985 
Own'd a rough dog, to whom he cast his coat, 
'Guard it,' and there was none to meddle with it. 
And such a coat art thou, and thee the King 
Gave me to guard, and such a dog am I, 
To worry, and not to flee — and — knight or knave — 
The knave that doth thee service as full knight 991 
Is all as good, meseems, as any knight 
Toward thy sister's freeing." 

" Ay, Sir Knave ! 
Ay, knave, because thou strikest as a knight. 
Being but knave, I hate thee all the more." 995 

" Fair damsel, you should worship me the more. 
That, being but knave, I throw thine enemies." 

"Ay, ay," she said, "but thou shalt meet thy 
match." 

979. parable, allegory. See lines 1166-1179. 

980. to boot, with advantage. 

990. worry, figlit, as a dog, by seizing and throttling. This 
was the old meaning of the word, but it has come to mean 
tease, vex. 

991-997. Which is right, Lynette or Gareth? 

996. worship, honor. 



98 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

So when they touch'd the second river-loop, 
Huge on a huge red horse, and all in mail looo 

Burnish'd to blinding, shone the Koonday Sun 
Beyond a raging shallow. As if the flower. 
That blows a globe of after arrowlets, 
Ten thousand-fold had grown, flash'd the fierce shield. 
All sun ; and Gareth's eyes had flying blots 1005 
Before them when he turn'd from watching him. 
He from beyond the roaring shallow roar'd, 
" What doest thou, brother, in my marches here ? " 
And she athwart the shallow shrill'd again, 
" Here is a kitchen-knave from Arthur's hall loio 
Hath overthrovv^n thy brother, and hath his arms." 
" Ugh ! " cried the Sun, and visoring up a red 
And cipher face of rounded foolishness, 
-Push'd horse across the foamings of the ford, 1014 
Whom Gareth met midstream : no room was there 
For lance or tourney-skill : four strokes they struck 
With sword, and these were mighty ; the new knight 
Had fear he might be shamed ; but as the Sun 
Heaved up a ponderous arm to strike the, fifth. 



1001. Burnish'd to blinding, polished so that it dazzled the 
eyes which looked upon it. 

1002. What is this flower ? 

1008. Gareth, hearing the shield of the Morning .Star is mis- 
taken for him. marches, the regions along the boundary line. 
March, from the Anglo Saxon, marc, mark, fixed point, is the 
frontier, the boundary between adjoining lands* In history 
the word is applied especially to the border regions between 
England and Scotland, or England and Wales. 

1012. visoring, covering with the visor, the movable front 
part of the helmet. 

101,3. cipher, expressionless, like the cipher which, of itself, 
denotes nothing. 

1014. Push'd, urged ; spurred. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 99 

The hoof of his horse slipt in the stream, the stream 
Descended, and the Sun was wash'd away. 1021 

Then Gareth laid his lance athwart the ford; 
So drew him home ; but he that fought no more, 
As being all bone-batter'd on the rock, 
Yielded ; and Gareth sent him to the King. 1025 
" Myself when I return will plead for thee." 
" Lead, .and I follow." Quietly she led. 
" Hath not the good wind, damsel, changed again? " 
" Nay, not a point : nor art thou victor here. 
There lies a ridge of slate across the ford; 1030 

His horse thereon stumbled — ay, for I saw it. 

" ' Sun ' (not this strong fool whom thou, Sir 
Knave, 
Hast overthrown thro' mere unhappiness), 
' Sun, that wakenest all to bliss or pain, 
moon, that layest all to sleep again, 1035 

Shine sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on me.' 

" What knowest thou of lovesong or of love ? 
Nay, nay, God wot, so thou wert nobly born, 
Thou hast a pleasant presence. Yea, perchance^ — 

^^ ^ dewy flowers that open to the sun, 1040 

dewy flowers that close when day is done, 
Blow sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on me.' 

" What knowest thou of flowers, except, belike, 
To garnish meats with ? hath not our good King 

1039. presence, bearing ; personal appearance. 



100 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Who lent me thee, the flower of kitcheiidom, 1045 
A foolish love for flowers? what stick ye rouDcl 
The pasty? wherewithal deck the boar's head? 
Flowers ? nay, the boar hath rosemaries and bay. 

" ^ birds, that warble to the morning sky, 
birds that warble as the day goes by, 1050 

Sing sweetly : twice my love hath smiled on me.' 

" Whatknowest thou of birds, lark, mavis, merle. 
Linnet ? what dream ye when they utter forth 
May-music growing with the growing light, 
Their sweet sun-worship ? these be for the snare 
(So runs thy fancy) these be for the spit, 1056 

Larding and basting. See thou have not now 
Larded thy last, except thou turn and fly. 
There stands the third fool of their allegory." 

For there beyond a bridge of treble bow, 1060 
All in a rose-red from the west, and all 
Naked it seem'd, and glowing in the broad 
Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight. 
That named himself the Star of Evening, stood. 

And Gareth, ^'Wherefore waits the madman 
there 
Naked in open dayshine ? " " Nay," she cried, 1066 
" Not naked, only wrapt in harden'd skins 

1048. The boar's head, a favorite dish at mediaeval banquets, 
was served with sprigs of rosemary and of bay in the nose, ears, 
and mouth. 

1052. mavis, thrush, merle, blackbird. 

1060. treble bow, three arches. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 101 

That fit him like his own ; and so ye cleave 
His armor off him, these will turn the blade." 

Then the third brother shouted o'er the bridge, 
" brother-star, why shine ye here so low ? 1071 
Thy ward is higlier up : but have ye slain 
The damsel's champion ? " and the damsel cried, 

"No star of thine, but shot from Arthur's heaven 
With all disaster unto thine and thee ! 1075 

For both thy younger brethren have gone down 
Before this youth ; and so wilt thou, Sir Star ; 
Art thou not old ? " 

" Old, damsel, old and hard, 
Old, with the might and breath of twenty boys." 
Said Gareth, " Old, and over-bold in brag ! 1080 

But that same strength which threw the Morning 

Star 
Can throw the Evening." 

Then that other blew 
A hard and deadly note upon the horn. 
"Approach and arm me ! " With slow steps from out 
An old storm-beaten, russet, m any-staiix' d 1085 

Pavilion, forth a grizzled damsel came, 

1068. so, even if. 

1072. ward, place to ward or protect. Ward and guard 
were originally one and the same. 

1075. disaster, evil fortune ; originally, misfortune brought 
by an unfavorable star. There is a suggestion here of the old 
superstition that a man's fate was controlled by the stars which 
presided at his birth. 

1086. grizzled, gray ; gray haired. 



102 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

And arm'd him in old arms, and brought a hehu 

With but a drying evergreen for crest, 

And gave a shield whereon the Star of Even 

Half-tarnish'd and half-bright, his emblem, shone. 

But when it glitter'd o'er the saddle-bow, 1091 

They madly hurl'd together on the bridge ; 

And Gareth overthrew him, lighted, drew. 

There met him drawn, and overthrew him again, 

But up like fire he started : and as oft 1095 

As Gareth brought him grovelling on his knees, 

So many a time he vaulted up again ; 

Till Gareth panted hard, and his great heart, 

Foredooming all his trouble was in vain, 

Labor'd within him, for he seem'd as one uoo 

That all in later, sadder age begins 

To war against ill uses of a life. 

But these from all his life arise, and cry, 

" Thou hast made us lords, and canst not put us 

down ! " 
He half despairs; so Gareth seem'd to strike 1105 
Vainly, the damsel clamoring all the while. 
" Well done, knave-knight, well stricken, good 

knight-knave — 
knave, as noble as any of all the knights — 
Shame me not, shame me not. I have prophesied — 
Strike, thou art worthy of the Table Round — mo 
His arms are old, he trusts the harden'd skin — 
Strike — strike — the wind will never change again." 
And Gareth hearing ever stronglier smote, 

1094. drawn, with drawn sword . 

1099. Foredooming, judging beforehand, especially in an un- 
favorable sense. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 103 

And hew'd great pieces of his armor off him, 
But lash'd in vain against the harden'd skin, 1115 
And could not wholly bring him under, more 
Than loud Southwesterns, rolling ridge on ridge. 
The buoy that rides at sea, and dips and springs 
For ever ; till at length Sir Gareth's brand 
Clash'd his, and brake it utterly to the hilt. 1120 
'' I have thee now ; " but forth that other sprang. 
And, all unknightlike, writhed his wiry arms 
Around him, till he felt, despite his mail. 
Strangled, but straining ev'n his uttermost 
Cast, and so hurl'd him headlong o'er the bridge 1125 
Down to the river, sink or swim, and cried, 
" Lead, and I follow." 

But the damsel said, 
^' I lead no longer ; ride thou at my side ; 
Thou art the kingliest of all kitchen-knaves. 

^ 1117. Southwesterns, southwest winds, which are the most 
violent on the southern coast of England, ridge, high waves, 
as often in Tennyson. 

" Nowhere could we more opportunely call attention to Mr. 
Tennyson's extraordinary felicity and force in the use of meta- 
phor and simile. 

" This gift appears to have grown with his years, alike in 
ahundance, truth, and grace. As the showers descend from 
heaven to return to it in vapor, so Mr. Tennyson's loving 
observation of nature and his Muse seem to have had a compact 
of reciprocity well kept on both sides. — Sometimes applying 
the metaphors of Art to Nature, he more frequently draws the 
materials of his analogies from her inexhaustible book, and 
however often he may call for some new and beautiful vehicle 
of illustration, she seems never to withhold an answer. With 
regai"d to this particular and very critical gift, it seems to ns 
tliat he may challenge comparison with almost any poet, either 
of ancient or modern times." — Gladstone. 



104 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

" ' trefoil, sparkling on the rainy plain, 1130 

rainbow with three colors after rain. 
Shine sweetly : thrice my love hath smiled on me/ 

"Sir, — and, good faith, I fain had added — 
Knight, 
But that I heard thee call thyself a knave, — 
Shamed am I that I so rebuked, reviled, 1135 

Missaid thee; noble I am ; and thought the King 
Scorn'd me and mine ; and now thy pardon, friend, 
For thou hast ever answer'd courteously. 
And wholly bold thou art, and meek withal 
As any of Arthur's best, but, being knave, 1140 

Hast mazed my Avit : I marvel what thou art." 

"Damsel," he said, "you be not all to blame. 
Saving that you mistrusted our good King 
Would handle scorn, or yield you, asking, one 
Not fit to cope your quest. You said your say ; 1145 
Mine answer was my deed. Good sooth ! I hold 
He scarce is knight, yea but half-man, nor meet 
To fight for gentle damsel, he, who lets 
His heart be stirr'd with any foolish heat 
At any gentle damsel's waywardness. 1150 

Shamed ? care not ! thy foul sayings fought for me : 

1130. trefoil, a plant, the leaves of which have three cups or 
divisions; in particular, any one of the clovers. 

1131. Why is the rainhow spoken of as having three colors? 
1141. mazed my wit, amazed my mind. 

1143. mistrusted, thought distrustfully. 

1144. handle scorn, make use of scorn. 

1145. cope, deal with ; usually, to strive on equal terms. 
1150. waywardness, jjerverseness ; literally, a-way-wardness. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 105 

And seeing now thy words are fair, niethinks 
There rides no knight, not Lancelot, his great self. 
Hath force to quell me." 

Nigh upon that hour 
When the lone hern forgets his melancholy, 1155 
Lets down his other leg, and stretching, dreams 
Of goodly supper in the distant pool. 
Then turn'd the noble damsel smiling at him, 
And told him of a cavern hard at hand, 
"Where bread and baken meats and good red wine 
Of Southland, which the Lady Lyonors 1161 

Had sent her coming champion, waited him. 

Anon they past a narrow comb wherein 
Were slabs of rock with figures, knights on horse 
Sculptured, and deckt in slowly-waning hues. 1165 
'' Sir Knave, my knight, a hermit once was here, 
Whose holy hand hath fashion'd on the rock 
The war of Time against the soul of man. 
And yon four fools have suck'd their allegory 1169 
From these damp walls, and taken but the form. 
Know ye not these ? " and Gareth lookt and read — 
In letters fftie to those the vexillary 

1155. hern, herou. 

1156. Lets down his other leg, after long standing upon 
one, according to his liabit. 

IIGO. baken, the old participle of bake. 

116.3. Anon, in a little while ; soon. This is its acquired 
meaning. It originally meant at once, comb, or combe, a 
hollow in a hillside. 

1170. taken but the form, adopted the names, but not per- 
ceived nor profited by the real meaning of the allegory. 

1172-1173. The Gelt is a stream in Cumberland, England. On 
a cliff overhanging it is an inscription rudely carved in Roman 



106 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Hath left crag-carven o'er the streaming G-elt — 
" Phosphokus/' then " Meridies " — " Hesperus " — 
" ISTox" — " Mors/' beneath five figures, armed men, 
Slab after slab, their faces forward all, 1176 

And running down the Soul, a Shape that fled 
With broken wings, torn raiment and loose hair, 
For help and shelter to the hermit's cave. 
*^ Follow the faces, and we find it. Look, nSo 

Who comes behind ? " 

For one — delay'd at first 
Thro' helping back the dislocated Kay 
To Camelot, then by what thereafter chanced. 
The damsel's headlong error thro' the wood — 
Sir Lancelot, having swum the river-loops — 1185 
His blue shield-lions cover'd — softly drew 
Behinc['the twain, and when he saw the star 
Gleam, on Sir Gareth's turning to him, cried, 
" Stay, felon knight, I avenge me for my friend." 
And Gareth crying prick'd against the cry ; 1190 

But when they closed — in a moment — at one touch 

letters by the vexillary, or standard bearer, <tf the second 
legion. From the inscription we gather that a detachment of 
this legion was stationed here in the year 207 a.d. 

This comparison is an instance of the way in which Tenny- 
son drew his illustrations from his own individual experience 
and observation. 

1174. Phosphorus (Latin), the Morning Star. Meridies 
(Latin), midday. Hesperus (Latin), the Evening Star. 

1175. Nox (Latin), night. Mors (Latin), death. 

1177. running down, pursuing closely ; usually, pursuing 
until overtaken or captured. 
1184. error, wandering. 

1189. See line 964, and note on line 1071. 

1190. prick'd, spurred. 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 107 

Of that skill'd spear, the wonder of the world — 
Went sliding down so easily, and fell. 
That when he found the grass within his hands 
He langh'd : the laughter jarr'd upon Lynette : 1195 
Harshly she ask'd him, "Shamed and overthrown, 
And tumbled back into the kitchen-knave, 
Why laugh ye ? that ye blew your boast in vain ? " 
" iSTay, noble damsel, but that I, the son 
Of old King Lot and good Queen Bellicent, 1200 

And victor of the bridges and the ford, 
And knight of Arthur, here lie thrown by whom 
I know not, all thro' mere unhappiness — 
Device and sorcery and unhappiness — 
Out, sword ; we are thrown ! " And Lancelot 
answer'd, "Prince, 1205 

Gareth — thro' the mere unhappiness 
Of one who came to help thee, not to harm, 
Lancelot, and all as glad to find thee whole. 
As on the day when Arthur knighted him." 1209 

Then Gareth, " Thou — Lancelot ! — thine the hand 
That threw me? An some chance to mar the boast 
Thy brethren of thee make — which could not 

chance — 
Had sent thee down before a lesser spear. 
Shamed had I been, and sad — Lancelot — thou!^' 

Whereat the maiden, petulant, "Lancelot, 121 5 
Why came ye not, when call'd ? and wherefore now 
Come ye, not call'd ? I gloried in my knave, 

1200. Why does Gareth take this time to declare his rank to 
Lynette ? 



108 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

^Vho being still rebuked, would answer still 
Courteous as any knight — but now, if knight, 
The marvel dies, and leaves me fool'd and trick'd 
And only wondering wherefore played upon : 1221 
And doubtful whether I and mine be scorn'd. 
Where should be truth if not in Arthur's hall, 
In Arthur's presence? Knight, knave, prince and 

fool, 
I hate thee and for ever." 

And Lancelot said, 1225 
" Blessed be thou, Sir Gareth ! knight art thou 
To the King's best wish. damsel, be you wise 
To call him shamed, who is but overthrown ? 
Thrown have I been, nor once, but many a time. 
Victor from vanquish'd issues at the last, 1230 

And overthrower from being overthrown. 
With sword we have not striven ; and thy good horse 
And thou are weary ; yet not less I felt 
Thy manhood thro' that wearied lance of thine. 
Well hast thou done; for all the stream is freed, 
And thou hast wreak'd his justice on his foes, 1236 
And when reviled, hast answer'd graciously. 
And makest merry when overthrown. Prince, 

Knight, 
Hail, Knight and Prince, and of our Table Pound! " 

And then when turning to Lynette he told 1240 
The tale of Gareth, petulantly she said, 
"Ay well — ay well — for worse than being fool'd 
Of others, is to fool one's self. A cave. 
Sir Lancelot, is hard by, with meats and drinks 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 109 

And forage for the liorsCj and flint for fire. 1245 

But all about it flies a honeysuckle. 

Seek, till we find." And when they sought and 

found, 
Sir Gareth drank and ate, and all his life 
Fast into sleep ; on whom the maiden gazed. 
" Sound sleep be thine ! sound cause to sleep hast 

thou. 1250 

Wake lusty ! Seem I not as tender to him 
As any mother ? Ay, but such a one 
As all day long hath rated at her child, 
And vext his day, but blesses him asleep — 
Good lord, how sweetly smells the honeysuckle 1255 
In the hush'd night, as if the world were one 
Of utter peace, and love, and gentleness ! 
Lancelot, Lancelot" — and she clapt her hands — 
" Full merry am I to find my goodly knave 
Is knight and noble. See now, sworn have I, 1260 
Else yon black felon had not let me pass, 
To bring thee back to do the battle with him. 
Thus an thou goest, he will fight thee first ; 
Who doubts thee victor ? so will my knight-knave 
]\Iiss the full flower of this accomplishment." 1265 

Said Lancelot, " Feradventure he, you name, 
May know my shield. Let Gareth, and he will, 
Change his for mine, and take my charger, fresh, 
Not to be spurr'd, loving the battle as well 
As he that rides him." "Lancelot-like," she said, 
"Courteous in this. Lord Lancelot, as in all." 1271 

1251. lusty, vigorous. 



no IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And Gareth, wakening, fiercely cliitch'd the 
shield ; 
"Eamp ye lance-splintering lions, on whom all spears 
Are rotten sticks ! ye seem agape to roar ! 
Yea, ramp and roar at leaving of your lord ! — 1275 
Care not, good beasts, so well I care for yon. 

noble Lancelot, from my hold on these 
Streams virtu,e — fire — thro' one that will not shame 
Even the shadow of Lancelot under shield. 
Hence : let us go." 

Silent the silent field 1280 

They traversed. Arthur's harp tho' summer-wan, 
In counter motion to the clouds, allured 
The glance of Gareth dreaming on his liege. 
A star shot : " Lo," said Gareth, " the foe falls ! " 
An owl whoopt : " Hark the victor pealing there ! " 
Suddenly she that rode upon his left 1286 

Clung to the shield that Lancelot lent him, crying, 
"Yield, yield him this again : 'tis he must fight : 

1 curse the tongue that all thro' yesterday 1289 
Reviled thee, and hath wrought on Lancelot now 
To lend thee horse and shield : Avonders ye have done ; 

1273. Ramp, leap ; rear, as a beast for the spring. It was in 
tliis position that tlie lions on Lancelot's coat of arms were 
represented. 

1281. Arthur's harp, this is thought by some to be the con- 
stellation of the Great Bear ; by others, the Little Bear. The 
reference to it in The Last Tournament — 

" Dost thou know the star 
We call the Harp of Arthur up in heaven ? " 

would imply that it was a single star and not a constellation. 

1285. pealing, sounding a note on the trumpet, in sign of vic- 
tory. 



GARETH Am LYNETTE 111 

Miracles ye cannot : here is glory enow 

In having flung the three : I see thee maim'd, 

Mangled : I swear thou canst not fling the fourth." 

" And wherefore, damsel ? tell me all ye know. 1295 
You cannot scares me ; nor rough face, or voice, 
Brute bulk of limb, or boundless savagery 
Appall me from the quest." 

^^ Nay, Prince," she cried, 
" God wot, I never look'd upon the face, 
Seeing he never rides abroad by day ; 1300 

But watch'd him have I like a phantom pass 
Chilling the night : nor have I heard the voice. 
Always he made his mouthpiece of a page 
Who came and went, and still reported him 
As closing in himself the strength of ten, 1305 

And when his anger tare him, massacring 
Man, woman, lad and girl — yea, the soft babe! 
Some hold that he hath swallow'd infant flesh. 
Monster ! Prince, I went for Lancelot first. 
The quest is Lancelot's : give him back the shield." 

Said Gareth laughing, ^' An he fight for this, 131 1 
Belike he wins it as the better man : 
Thus — and not else ! " 

But Lancelot on him urged 
All the devisings of their chivalry 

1298. Appall, frighten; originally, grow pale; then, make 
pale; hence, frighten. 

1.305. closing in, containing. 
1.S06. tare, tore, the old preterite. 
i;)l-i. devisings, devices. 



112 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

When one might meet a mightier than himself ; 1315 
How best to manage horse, lance, sword and shield, 
And so fill np the gap where force might fail 
With skill and fineness. Instant were his words. 

Then Gareth, " Here be rnles. I know bnt one — 
To dash against mine enemy and to win. 1320 

Yet have I watch'd thee victor in the jonst, 
And seen thy way." " Heaven help thee," sigh'd 
Lynette. 

Then for a space, and nnder cloud that grew 
To thunder-gloom palling all stars, they rode 
In converse till she made her palfrey halt, 1325 

Lifted an arm, and softly wdiisper'd, " There." 
And all the three were silent seeing, pitch'd 
Beside the Castle Perilous on flat field, 
A huge pavilion like a mountain peak 
Sunder the gloomy crimson on the marge, 1330 

Black, with black banner, and a long black horn 
Beside it hanging ; which Sir Gareth graspt, 
And so, before the two could hinder him. 
Sent all his heai:t and breath thro' all the horn. 
Echo'd the walls ; a light twinkled ; anon 1335 

Came lights and lights, and once again he blew 5 
Whereon were hollow tramplings up and down 

1318. fineness, finesse ; dexterity. Instant, urgent and eager, 
— an archaic use of the word. 

1324. palling, covering, as with a pall. 

1325. palfrey, a saddle horse, especially one for a woman, as 
distinguished from a war horse. 

1330. marge, a poetic form of margin. 

1336. Came lights and lights, lights appeared here and there 
in succession. 



*GARETH AND LYNETTE 113 

And niu tiled voices heard, and shadows past ; 
Till high above him, circled with her maids. 
The Lady Lyonors at a window stood, 1-40 

Beautiful among lights, and waving to him 
White hands, and courtesy ; but when the Prince 
Three times had blown — after long hush — at last — 
The huge pavilion slowly yielded up, 
Thro' those black foldings, that which housed 

therein. 1345 

High on a nightblack horse, in nighj±»la^k arms, 
With whit e breast-bone, and barren ribs of Death, 
And crown'd with fleshless laugliter — some ten 

steps — 
In the half-light — thro' the dim dawn — advanced 
The monster, and then paused, and spake no word. 

But Gareth spake and all indignantly, 135 1 

/l^{2l, for thou hast, men say, the strength of ten. 
Canst thou not trust the limbs thy God hath given, 
But must, to make the terror of thee more. 
Trick thyself out in ghastly imageries 1355 

Of that which Life hath done with, and the clod, 
Less dull than thou, will hide with mantling flowers 
As if for pity ? " But he spake no word ; 
Which set the horror higher : a maiden swoon'd ; 
The Lady Lyonors wrung her hands and wept, 1360 
As doom'd to be the bride of Night and Death ; 
Sir Gareth's head prickled beneath his hehn ; 
And even Sir Lancelot thro' his warm blood felt 
Ice strike, and all that mark'd him were aghast. 

1348. fleshless laughter, a grinning skull. 
1362. prickled, stood on end with awe. 

I 



llI^v^he kixW ^ 



114 IDYLL, 

At once Sir Lancelot's charger fiercely neigii'd, t, ^ 
And Death's dark war-horse bounded forward wi^^ v 

him. 3|66 ^ 

Then those that did not blink the terror, saw 
That Death was cast to ground, and slowly rose. 
But with one stroke Sir Gareth split the skull. 
Half fell to right and half to left and lay. 1370 

Then with a stronger buffet he clove the helm 
As throughly as the skull ; and out from this 
Issued the bright face of a blooming boy 
Fresh as a flower new-born, and crying, "Knight, 
Slay me not: my three brethren bad me do it, 1375 
To make a horror all about the house. 
And stay the world from Lady Lyonors. 
They never dream'd the passes would be past." 
Answer'd Sir Gareth graciously to one 
Not many a moon his younger, " My fair child, 1380 
What madness made thee challenge the chief knight 
Of Arthur's hall ? " "Fair Sir, they bad me do it. 
They hate the King^, and Lancelot, the King's friend. 
They hoped to slay him somewhere on the stream, 
They never dream'd the passes could be past." 13S5 

Then sprang the happier day from underground ; 
And Lady Lyonors and her house, with dance 



1367. blink the terror, shrink from looking at the terrifying 
sight. 

1371. clove, cleft. 

1372. throughly, thoroughly ; the words are one and the same. 
1377. stay the world, keep away the world. 

1386. From here on Tennyson deviates from the story as told 
by Malory. Instead of sending Gareth on other quests at the 
behest of Lady Lyonors, who in the end l)eeomes his bride, 



GARETH AND LYNETTE 115 

And revel and song, made merry over Death, 
As being after all their foolish fears 
And horrors only proven a blooming boy. 1390 

So large mirth lived and Gareth won the quest. 

And he that told the tale in older times 
Says that Sir Gareth wedded Lyonors, 
But he, that told it later, says Lynette. 

Tennyson represents the knight as welcomed at once to the 
castle and becoming the accepted suitor of Lynette. 

1391. lived, prevailed, won the quest, accomplished his 
adventure. 

1,392. he, Malory. 

1394. he, Tennyson. 



X 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE* 

The Argument, — On his way to Camelot to joust, in- 
cognito, for the last and greatest of the nine diamonds of- 
fered as prizes by King Arthur, Lancelot spends the night 
at Astolat, the castle of Elaine's father. Here, unwittingly, 
he wins Elaine's love. At the joust, whither he is accom- 
panied by Lavaine, Lancelot, wearing her sleeve of pearls 
on his helmet, is sorely wounded. Elaine learns of this, 
and, with her father's consent, goes to him, and nurses him 
through his serious illness. Recovering, he returns with her 
and her brother to Astolat for his shield, left with her that 
he might not be recognized by it. Here she confesses to 
him her love. Unable to give his own in return, he tenderly, 
yet without farewell, departs. Elaine sickens and dies ; but 
not till her father has promised her that, with the letter she 
has written to Lancelot and the Queen in her dead hand, she 
shall be dressed in her richest white, placed on the deck of 
the barge, and rowed up the river to the palace. This is 
done; and the majestic poem concludes with the appear- 
' ance of her body at Court, and the burial^ with a painful 
interview between the King and Lancelot, and with Lance- 
lot's sad reflections. 

Elaine the fair, Elaine the lovable, 

Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat, 

High in her chamber up a tower to the east 



* ''Elaine still remains, for pathetic sweetness and absolute 
beauty of narrative and rhythm, dearest to the heart of maiden, 
youth, ^r sage." — Stedman's Victorian Poets. 

2. h^ maid, so named from the delicate hue of her face. 
Called, in some of the romances, Elaine la Blanche, the White. 
117 



118 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

y 

Guarded the sacred shield of Lancelot ; 

Which first she placed where morning's earliest 

i"ay , 5 

Might strike it, and awake her with the gleam ; 
Then, fearing rust or soilure, fashion' d for it 
A case of silk/ and braided thereupon ' i 

All the devices blazon' d on the shield 
In their own tinct, and added, of her w4t, lo 

A border fantasy of branch and flower, 
And yellow-throated nestling in the nest. 
Nor rested thus content, but day by day. 
Leaving her household and good father, climb'd 
That eastern tower, and, entering, barrVl her door, 15 
Stript off the case, and read the naked shield, 
Now guess'd a hidden meaning in his arms, 
Now made a pretty history to herself 
Of every dint a sword had beaten in it. 
And every scratch a lance had made upon it, , 20 
Conjecturing when and where : this cut is fresh ; 
That ten years back ;l this dealt him at Caerlyle; 
That at Caerleon ; this at Camelot : 
And ah, God's mercy, what a stroke was there ! 
And here a thrust that might have kill'd, but God 25 

•i. sacred in her eyes. 

7. soilure, soil, stain, dirt — an old word. 

9. blazon'd, applied in heraldry to the figures portrayed on 
the shield or oWier armor. Fr. bldson, a coat of arms. 

12. nestling. Elaine embroidered on the case all the figures 
of the shield and in the same tinct (tint, color), and added fancy 
pictures of branch and flower and birds. Nestling from rtcst, 
root nas, to go to, visit, and the double diminutive suffix l-ing. 
Cf. gosling = goose-l-ing . 

19. dint, same as dent, a blow, the impression made by the 
blow. Here and ordinarily both dint and dent are metonymies, 
the name of the effect standing for that of the cause. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 119 

Broke the strong lance, and roll'd his enemy down 
And saved hiyi : so she lived in Fantasy. — **=' 

How came the lily maid by that good shield 
Of Lancelot, she that knew not ev'n his name ? 
He left it with her when he rode to tilt 30 

For the great diamond in the diamond jousts 
Which Arthur had ordain'd, and by that name 
ilad named them, since a diamond was the prize. 

'For Arthur, long before they crown'd him king, 
Roving the trackless realms of Lyonnesse, 35 

Had found a glen, gray boulder, and black tarn. 
A horror lived about the tarn, and clave ^^ 
Like its own mists to all the mountain side J 
For here two brothers, one a king, had met. 
And fought together ; but their names were lost. 40 
And each had slain his brother at a blow, 
And down they fell and made the glen abhorr'd : 
And there they lay till all their bones were bleach'd, 
And lichen'd into color with the crags : 

27. him, Lancelot. Poets, even, are ambiguous in their use 
of personal pronouns. 

31. diamond, same word as adamant. From two Gr. words, 
a, not, and damaeln, to subdue. The thing named from its 
hardness ; nothing, it was supposed, could wear it away, or 
subdue it. Tame is the same word as damaein, and illustrates 
Grimm's Law. jousts, encounters on horseback — fully de- 
scribed in the poem. 

35. Lyonnesse, a district of Cornwall, said now to be buried 
under the sea. 

36. tarn, a pool. A Norse word, as is also boulder. A 
boulder is a detached rock. The noise it makes in thundering 
to the plains below gives it its name, which is related, as is 
bnll, to helloro. 

44. lichen'd, a particij^le from no verb. Lichen is the name 



120 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And he that once was king had on a crown 45 

Of diamonds, one in front, and four aside. 

And Arthur came, and laboring up the pass 

All in a misty moonshine, unawares 

Had trodden that crown'd skeleton, and the skull 

Brake from the nape, and from the skull the crown 

Koll'd into light, and, turning on its rims, 51 

Fled like a glittering rivulet to the tarn : 

And down the shingly scaur he plunged, and caught, 

And set it on his head, and in his heart 

Heard murmurs, " Lo, thou likewise shalt be king." 

Thereafter, when a king, he had the gems 56 

Pluck'd from the crown, and show'd them to his 

knights. 
Saying, " These jewels, whereupon I chanced 
Divinely, are the kingdom's, not the king's — 
For public use : henceforward let there be, 60 

Once every year, a joust for one of these : 
For so by nine years' proof we needs must learn 
Which is our mightiest, and ourselves shall grow 
In use of arms and manhood, till we drive 
The heathen, who, some say, shall rule the land 65 

of a flowerless, parasitic plant, fastening upon stones, x<J^'^\ 
and, here, upon bones. 

46. aside, on eacli side. 

53. shingly scaur, both Norse words, meaning here the stec , 
rocky banks of the tarn, covered with a coarse gravel. Shini re 
allied to sing — the thing so named from the noise the foot 
makes in treading upon it. 

62. needs, necessarily, from noun 7ieed with an A.-S. genitive 
ending s or es. 

65. heathen, the Anglo-Saxons, with whom Arthur was so 
long warring. How did the present meaning of pagan and 
heathen come from the old ? See Webster. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 121 

Hereafter, wliicli God hinder." Thus lie spoke : 
And eight years past, eight jousts had been, and still 
Had Lancelot won the diamond of the year. 
With purpose to present them to the Queen 
When all were won ; but meaning all at once 70 
To snare her royal fancy with a boon 
Worth half her realm, had never spoken word. . 

Now for the central diamond and the last 
And largest, Arthur, holding then his court 
Hard on the river nigh the place which now 75 

Is this world's hugest, let proclaim a joust 
At Camelot, and when the time drew nigh 
Spake (for she had been sick) to Guinevere, 
" Are you so sick, my Queen, you can not move 
To these fair jousts?" "Yea, lord," she said, "ye 
know it." 80 

" Then will ye miss," he answer'd, " the great deeds 
Of Lancelot, and his prowess in the lists, 
A sight ye love to look on." And the Queen 
Lifted her eyes, and they dwelt languidly 
On Lancelot, where he stood beside the King. 85 
He', thinking that he read her meaning there, 
" S Jif with me, I am sick ; my love is more 
T' .a many diamonds," yielded ; and a heart, 

(•7v still, as in Shakespeare, always, constantly. 

76. world's hugest, London, and the river, Thames, let 
proclaim, caused to be proclaimed. 

80. lord. The etymology of lord and lady are worth know- 
ing, if only to see how the words have strayed from their origi- 
nal meanings. Lord from A.-S. hldf, loaf, and loeard, keeper, 
and hence = loaf-keeper. Lady from /iZo/and dsRgee, and = loaf- 
kneader. 



122 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Love-lojal to the least wish of the Queen 
(However much he yearu'd to make complete 90 
The tale of diamonds for his destined boon), 
Urged him to speak against the truth, and say, 
" Sir King, mine ancient wound is hardly whole. 
And lets me from the saddle ; " and the King 
Glanced first at him, then her, and went his way. 95 
No sooner gone than suddenly she began : 

" To blame, my lord Sir Lancelot, much to blame ! 
Why go ye not to these fair jousts ? the knights 
Are half of them our enemies, and the crowd 
Will murmur, ' Lo, the shameless ones, who take ico 
Their pastime now the trustful King is gone ! ' " 
Then Lancelot, vexed at having lied in vain : 
^' Are ye so wise ? ye were not once so wise. 
My Queen, that summer, when ye loved me first. 
Then of the crowd ye took no more account 105 

Than of the myriad cricket of the mead. 
When its own voice clings to each blade of grass, 

91. tale, number. Cf. Exodus v. 18. " There shall uo straw 
be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks." Skeat 
says, "The original sense was probably order, whence number, 
orderly arrangement of speech, narrative. boon, original 
meaning is a petition ; now means a gift, as well. 

93. Sir, or sire, from L. senior, elder. The title of a knight, 
but often used in addressing a king, whole, healed. Whole, 
wholesome, heal, hail, health, holy, are related words, meaning 
soundness of body or of mind. The initial w comparatively 
recent. 

94. lets, hinders. Two leVs in English: let, to hinder, from 
A.-S. lettan, to make late; and let, to permit, allow, from A.-S. 
Isetan, letan. saddle, from a root, meaning to sit. 

10(). cricket, the name of an insect that creaks, an imitative 
word, here a collective noun. Meadoiv is but a fuller form of 
mead. 



LANCELOT AXD ELAINE 123 

And every voice is nothing. As to knights, 
Them surely can I silence with all ease. 
Hut now my loyal worship is allow'd no 

Of all men : many a bard, without offence, 
Has liuk'd our names together in his lay, 
Lancelot, the flower of bravery, Guinevere, 
The pearl of beauty : and our knights at feast 
Have pledged us in this union, while the king 115 
Would listen smiling. How then ? is there more ? 
Has Arthur spoken aught ? or would yourself, 
jSTow weary of my service and devoir, 
Henceforth be truer to your faultless lord ? " 

She broke into a little scornful laugh. 120 

'' Arthur, my lord, Arthur, the faultless King, 
That passionate perfection, my good lord — 
But who can gaze upon the sun in heaven ? 
He never spake word of reproach to me, 
He never had a glimpse of mine untruth, 125 

He cares not for me : only here to-day 
There gleam'd a vague suspicion in his eyes : 
Some meddling rogue has tamper'd with him — else 
RajDt in this fancy of his Table Eound, 



108. nothing, because indistinguishable from other voices. 

111. bard, a Keltic word = A.-S. gleeman = F. minstrel. The 
education of tlie minstrel poet consisted chiefly of the lays (lyric 
poems) committed to memory, or composed by himself to the 
music of his lyre. These he sang in the halls of the great, at 
their feasts. Sometimes the bard was a retainer of the chief 
whom he served ; sometimes a wanderer, visiting the courts of 
princes, and never failing of welcome and of substantial reward. 

118. devoir, duty; L. debere, to owe. 

128. else Rapt, except in this instance, always engrossed, 
absorbed. 



124 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And swearing men to vows impossible, 130 

To make them like himself : but, friend, to me 

He is all fault who hath no fault at all : 

For who loves me must have a touch of earth ; 

The low sun makes the color :. I am. yours. 

Not Arthur's, as ye know, save by the bond. 135 

And therefore hear my words : go to the jousts : 

The tiny-trumpeting gnat can break our dream 

When sweetest; and the vermin voices here 

May buzz so loud — we scorn them, but they sting." 

Then answer'd Lancelot, the chief of knights : 140 
'^ And with what face, after my pretext made. 
Shall I appear, Queen, at Camelot, I 
Before a King who honors his own word, 
As if it were his God's ? " 

" Yea,'* said the Queen, 
" A moral child without the craft to rule, 145 

Else had he not lost me : but listen to me. 



130. vows impossible. No wonder those vows of noble living 
(see Introduction), with which Arthur bound his knights, were 
now impossible under a queen with a nature so earthy, and a 
heart so disloyal to her husband, as to permit her to utter the 
next tive lines. 

134. The low sun makes the color, the morning and evening 
sun paints the clouds, and colors even the air. Read Tyndall's 
essays on light, and learn how. Note the aptness to her condi- 
tion of this incomplete comparison. 

135. save by the bond of marriage. 

137. gnat, mosquito, whose tiny-trumpeting is the buzzing of 
his wings. 

141. pretext, excuse for staying with the queen. 

145. craft, skill. She is trying to shift her guilt to the 
shouldei-s of her husband. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 125 

If I must find you wit : we hear it said 

Th^t men go down before your spear at a touch 

But knowing you are Lancelot ; your great name, 

This conquers : hide it, therefore ; go unknown : 150 

Win ! by tliis kiss you will : and our true King 

AVill then allow your pretext, my knight, 

As all for glory ; for, to speak him true, 

Ye know right well, how meek soe'er he seem, 

Xo keener hunter after glory breathes. 155 

He loves it in his knights more than himself: 

They prove to him his work : win and return." 

1 
Then got Sir Lancelot suddenly to horse. 
Wroth at himself : not willing to be known. 
He left the barren-beaten thoroughfare, 160 

Chose the green path that show'd the rarer foot, 
And there among the solitary downs. 
Full often lost in fancy, lost his way, 
Till, as he traced a faintly-shadow'd track. 
That all in loops and links among the dales 165 

Kan to the Castle of Astolat, he saw 
Fired from the west, far on a hill, the towers. 
Thither he made, and blew the gateway horn. 
Then came an old, dumb, myriad-wrinkled man, 

147. wit, reason. 

149. But knowing, by simply knowing. 

160. thoroughfare. The old form of thorough was through. 
Fare from A.-S. farcm, to go — the whole — the way through. 

161. green, grass growing in it because it was rarely trodden. 

162. downs, a Keltic word meaning hills. The cognate A.-S. 
word is tun, now, town. 

167. Fired, lighted up by the western sun. 

168. horn, placed so that one seeking admission could an- 
nounce his presence. 



126 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Who let liini into lodging, and disarui'd. 170 

And Lancelot marvel'd at the wordless man; 

And, issuing, found the Lord of Astolat 

With two strong sons. Sir Torre and Sir Lavaine, 

Moving to meet him in tlie castle court; 

And close behind them stept the lily maid, 175 

Elaine, his daughter : mother of the house 

There was not : some light jest among them rose 

With laughter dying down as tlio great knight 

Approach'd them : then the Lord of Astolat: 

" Whence comest thou, my guest, and by what name 

Livest between the lips ? for, by thy state 181 

And presence, I might guess thee chief of those, 

After the King, who eat in Arthur's halls. 

Him have I seen : the rest, his Table Round, 

Known as they are, to me they are unknown." 185 

Then answer'd Lancelot, the chief of knights : 
'^ Known am I, and of Arthur's hall, and known 
What I by mere mischance have brought, my shield. 
But, since I go to joust, as one unknown, 
At Camelot for the diamond, ask me not. 190 

Hereafter ye shall know me — and the shield — 
I pray you lend me one, if such you have. 
Blank, or at least with some device not mine." 

Then said the Lord of Astolat, "Here is Torrf^s: 
Hurt in his first tilt was my son, Sir Torre, 195 

And so, God wot, his shield is blank enough. 
His ye can have." Then added plain Sir Torre 

181. Livest, etc., art called by. 

193. Blank, without device or blazon. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 127 

" Yea, since I cannot use it, ye may have it." 
Here laugh'd the father saying, ''Fie, Sir Churl, 
Is that an answer for a noble knight ? 200 

Allow him : but Lavaine, my younger here. 
He is so full of lustihood, he will ride. 
Joust for it, and win, and bring it in an hour, 
And set it in this damsel's golden hair. 
To make her thrice as wilful as before." 205 

" Xay, father, nay, good father, shame me not 
Before this noble knight," said young Lavaine, 
" For nothing. Surely I but play 'd* on Torre : 
He seem'd so sullen, vext he could not go : 
A jest, no more : for, knight, the maiden dreamt 210 
That some one put this diamond in her hand, 
And that it was too slippery to be held. 
And slipt, and fell into some pool or stream, 
The castle-well, belike ; and then I said 
That if I went, and ifl fought and won it 215 

(But all was jest and joke am'ong ourselves), 
Then must she keep it safelier. All was jest. 
But, father, give me leave, an if he will. 
To ride to Camelot with this noble knight : 
Win shall I not, but do my best to win : 220 

Young as I am, yet would I do my best." 



199. Sir Churl, a reproach to Sir Torre for his ungracious 
speech — that, since lie could not use the shield, Lancelot 
might. 

202. lustihood, etc., so full of vigor that he would like to ride. 

203. it, the diamond. 

218. an if. An old word for and, hut used in the sense of if, 
and frequent in Shakespeare. When this force of an was for- 
gotten, people placed an (/'after it, as here. 



128 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

" So ye will grace me," answer'cl Lancelot, 
Smiling a moment, " with your fellowship 
O'er these waste downs whereon I lost myself. 
Then were I glad of you as guide and friend ; 225 
And you shall win this diamond — as I hear. 
It is a fair large diamond, — if ye may ; 
And yield it to this maiden, if ye will." 
" A fair, large diamond," added plain Sir Torre, 
" Such be for queens and not for simple maids." 230 
Then she, Avho held her eyes upon the ground, 
Elaine, and heard her name so tost i.bout, 
Flush'd slightly at the slight disparagement 
Before the stranger knight, who, looking at her 
Full courtly, yet not falsely, thus returnVl : 235 

" If what is fair be but for what is fair, 
And only queens are to be counted so, 
Rash were my judgment, then, who deem this maid 
Might wear as fair a jewel as is on earth, 
Not violating the bond of like to like." 240 

He spoke and ceased : the lily maid Elaine, 
Won by the mellow voice before she look'd, 
Lifted her eyes, and read his lineaments. 
The great and guilty love he bare the Queen, 
In battle with the love he bare his lord, 245 

Had marr'd his face, and mark'd it ere his time. 
Another sinning on such heights with one, 
The flower of all the west and all the world. 
Had been the sleeker for it : but in him 
His mood was often like a iiend, and rose 250 

And drove him into wastes and solitudes 

240. Not violating, because Elaine was so fair. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 129 

For agony, who was yet a living soul. 

jVIarr'd as he was, he seem'd the goodliest man 

That ever among ladies ate in hall, 

And noblest, when she lifted up her eyes. 255 

However marr'd, of more than twice her years, 

Seam'd with an ancient swordcut on the cheek. 

And bruised and bronzed, she lifted up her eyes 

And loved him, with that love which was her doom. 

Then the great knight, the darling of the court. 
Loved- of the loveliest, into that rude hall 261 

Stept with all grace, and not with half-disdain 
Hid under grace, as in a smaller time. 
But kindly man moving" among his kind : 
Whom they with meats and vintage of their best. 
And talk and minstrel melody entertain'd. 266 

And much they ask'd of court and Table Kound, 
And ever well and readily ansvver'd he : 
But Lancelot, when they glanced at Guinevere, 
Suddenly speaking of the wordless man 270 

Heard from the baron that, ten years before. 
The heathen caught, and reft him of his tongue. 
" He learnt and warn'd me of their fierce design 
Against my house, and him they caught and 

maim'd ; 
But I, my sons, and little daughter fled 275 

252. who was yet, etc. Lancelot is not a hardened sinner. 
His better nature is here in revolt against the rule of his lower 
nature. 

259. doom, primarily judgment; then judgment adverse to 
one, and then, as here, the consequence — destruction, death. 

263. smaller time, less worthy time. 

26G. minstrel melody, see 1. 111. 



130 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

From bonds or death, and dwelt among the woods 
By the great river in a boatman's hut. 
Dull days were those, till our good Arthur broke 
The Pagan yet once more on Badon hill." 

" Oh, there, great Lord, doubtless," Lavaine said, 
rapt 280 

By all the sweet and sudden passion of youth 
Toward greatness in its elder, '^ you have fought. 
Oh, tell us — for we live apart — you know 
Of Arthur's glorious wars." And L mcelot spoke 
And answer'd him at Ml, as having been 2S5 

With Arthur in the fight Avhich all day long 
Rang by the wdiite mouth of the violent Glem ; 
And in the four loud battles by the shore 
Of Duglas ; that on Bassa ; then the war 
That thunder'd in and out the gloomy skirts 290 
Of Celidon the forest ; and again 
By castle Gurnion, where the glorious King 
Had on his cuirass worn our Lady's Head, 
Carved of one emerald, center'd in a sun 
Of silver rays, that lighten'd as he breathed ; 295 
And at Caerleon had he help'd his lord, 
When the strong neighings of the will White Jlorse 

279. Badon hill. See Introduction for these battles. 

280. rapt, caught up, fascinated. L. rapere, to ^eize. 

29'S. Lady's Head, the head of the Virgin Mary. Cuirass, 
from F. culr, L. cot-ium, leather, the material out of which the 
breastplate was originally made. 

294. center'd, the emerald was in the center of a pictured sun. 

295. lighten'd, etc., gleamed, as the rise and fall of his breast 
in breathing changed the emerald's position. 

297. White Horse. The White Horse was the standard or 
national emblem of the Danish chief. In Berkshire is the 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 131 

Set every gilded parapet shuddering ; 

And up in Agned-Catliregonion too, 

And down the waste sand-shores of Trath Treroit, 

Where many a heathen fell ; " And on the mount 

Of Badon I myself beheld the King 302 

Charge at the head of all his Table Round, 

And all his legions crying Christ and him, 

And break them ; and I saw him, after, stand 305 

High on a heap of slain, from spur to plume 

Eed as the rising sun with heathen blood. 

And, seeing me, with a great voice he cried, 

' They are broken, they are broken,' for the King, 

However mild he seems at home, nor cares 310 

For triumph in our mimic wars, the jousts — 

For, if his owni knight cast him down, he laughs. 

Saying his knights are better men than he — 

Yet in this heathen Avar the fire of Crod 

Fills him : I never saw his like : there lives 315 

No greater leader." 

While he utter'd this, 
Low to her own heart said the lily maid, 
'^Save your great self, fair lord;" and, when he 

fell 
From talk of war to traits of pleasantry — 
Being mirthful he but in a stately kind, — 320 

She still took note that when the living smile 
Died from his lips, across him came a cloud 

famous White Horse Hill. Twice in Guinevere the heathen are 
called " Lords of the White Horse." 

305. break them, put the heathen to flight. 

309. for the King is here pleonastic, has no connection with 
what follows. 



132 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Of melaiiclioly severe, from Avhicli again, 

Whenever, in her hovering to and fro, 

The lily maid had striven to make him cheer, 325 

There brake a sudden-beaming tenderness 

Of manners and of nature : and she thought 

That all was nature, all, perchance, for her. 

And all night long his face before her lived. 

As when a painter, poring on a face, 330 

Divinely thro' all hindrance finds the man 

Behind it, and so paints him that his face, 

The shape and color of a mind and life, 

Lives for his children, ever at its best 

And fullest ; so the face before her lived, 335 

Dark-splendid, speaking in the silence, full 

Of noble things, and held her from her sleep. 

Till rathe she rose, half-cheated in the thought 

She needs must bid farewell to sweet La.vaine. 

First as in fear, step after step, she stole 340 

Down the long tower-stairs, hesitating : 

325. to make him cheer, to entertain him. cheer, F. chere, 
L. cara, face, look. Be of good cheer = be of happy counten- 
ance, look pleased. 

329. lived, appearing in her dreams, and recalled in her 
waking hours. 

338. rathe, early. Our comparative rather (rathe and 
rathest have perished, and the initial h is lost) once expressed 
a pure time relation. Earle instances a threatening letter 
written, in 1420, by Sir Hugh Luttrell, in which he says he 
'"shall come home, and that rather [earlier] than some men 
wolde " wish to see him. Rather, expressing preference, even 
now really denotes time. I would rather go than stay=I would 
sooner go than stay = I would take the going sooner than I 
would take the staying, half-cheated, half-deluding herself 
with, and half-deluded by, the thought that she wanted to bid 
Lavaine, and not Lancelot, farewell. A fine touch of natui'e in 
Tennyson. 



' LANCELOT AND ELAINE 133 

Auou, she lieard Sir Lancelot cry in the court, 
"■ This shield, my friend, where is it ? " and Lavaine 
Past inward, as she came from out the tower. 
There to his proud horse Lancelot turn'd, and 
smooth'd 345 

The glossy shoulder, humming to himself. 
Half-envious of the flattering hand, she drew 
Nearer and stood. He look'd, and more amazed 
Than if seven men had set upon him, saw 
The maiden standing in the dewy light. 350 

He had not dreamed she was so beautiful. 
Then came on him a sort of sacred fear. 
For silent, tho' he greeted her, she stood 
Rapt on his face as if it were a God's. 
Suddenly flash'd on her a wild desire 355 

That he should wear her favor at the tilt. 
She braved a riotous heart in asking for it. 
" Fair lord, whose name I know not — noble it is, 
I well believe, the noblest — will you wear 
My favor at this tourney ? " "Nay," said he, 360 
'• Fair lady, since I never yet have worn 
Favor of any lady in the lists. 
Such is my wont, as those who know me know." 
" Yea, so," she answer'd ; " then in wearing mine 

347. flattering, an instance of Tennyson's delicate use of 
words. It is from a base jiak, meaning to stroke, to pet. 

349. set upon him, in attack, in the tournament. 

350. dewy light, the air yet charged with the moisture of 
the dew. 

356. favor, something worn as a token of regard. What 
it indicated when worn by a knight is seen farther on in the 
poem. 

363. wont, custom, habit, A.-S. wunian to dwell, to con- 
tinue in. 



134 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Needs must be lesser likelihood, noble lord, 365 

That those who know should know you.'' And he 

turn'd 
Her counsel up and down within his mind, 
And found it true, and answer'd, " True, my child. 
Well, I Avill wear it : fetch it out to me : 
What is it ? " and she told him, '^ A red sleeve 370 
Broider'd with pearls," and brought it : then he 

bound 
Her token on his helmet, with a smile 
Saying, " I never yet have done so much 
For any maiden living,'" and the blood 
Sprang to her face and fill'd her with delight ; 375 
But left her all the paler, Avhen Lavaine, 
Eeturning, broug-ht the yet-unblazonVl shield. 
His brother's ; which he gave to Lancelot, 
Wlio parted with his own to fair Elaine ; 
"Do me this grace, my child, to have my shield 3S0 
In keeping till I come." " A grace to me," 
She answer'd, " twice to-day. I am your Squire." 
Whereat Lavaine said, laughing, '' Lily maid. 
For fear our people call you lily maid 
In earnest, let me bring your color back ; 3S5 

Once, twice, and thrice : now get you hence to bed : " 
So kiss'd her, and Sir Lancelot his own hand, 
And thus they moved away ; she stay'd a minute, 
Then made a sudden step to the gate, and there — 

365. lesser likelihood, less probability — lesser, a double 
comparative, still used. A keeu argument, as lie acknowledges. 
He wished to fight unknown ; and w^earing a favor, contrary to 
his custom, would help to disguise him. 

382. Squire, a young noble before he attained the dignity of 
knighthood, here a shield-bearer. Knights w^ere thus attended. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 135 

Her bright hair blown about the serious face 390 
Yet rosy-kindled with her brother's kiss — ■ 
Paused by the gateway, standing near the shield 
In silence, while she watch'd their arms far-off 
Sparkle, until they dipt below the downs. 
Then to her tower she climb'd, and took the shield, 
There kept it, and so lived in fantasy. 396 

Meanwhile the new companions past away 
Far o'er the long backs of the bushless downs, 
To where Sir Lancelot knew there lived a knight 
Not far from Camelot, now for forty years 400 

A hermit, wdio had pray'd, labor'd, and pray'd. 
And, ever laboring, had scoop'd himself. 
In the white rock, a chapel and a hall 
On massive columns, like a shorecliff cave. 
And cells and chambers : all were fair and dry ; 405 
The green light from the meadows underneath 
Struck up and lived along the milky roofs ; 
And in the meadows tremulous aspen-trees 
And poplars made a noise of falling showers. 
And, thither wending, there that night they bode. 

But when the next day broke from underground. 
And shot red fire and shadows thro' the cave, 412 
They rose, heard mass, broke fast, and rode away : 

397. companions. The etymology of the word gives its best 
meaning — L. cum, together, and pcuiis, bread — those eating 
bread together. 

409. made a noise. The rustling leaves made the noise of 
showers. 

411. broke from underground, sun rose above the horizon. 

413. mass, from L. mhm, mittere, in the command given by 
the priest to those who were not yet allowed to remain during 



A. 



136 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Then Lancelot, saying, "Hear, but hold my name 

Hidden, you ride with Lancelot of the Lake," 415 

Abash'd Lavaine, whose instant reverence, 

Dearer to true young hearts than their own praise, 

But left him leave to stammer, "' Is it indeed ? " 

And after muttering, " The great Lancelot," 

At last he got his breath and answer'd, " One, 420 

One have I seen — that other, our liege lord, 

The dread Pendragon, Britain's King of kings. 

Of whom the people talk mysteriously, 

He will be there — then, were I stricken blind 

That minute, I might say that I had seen." 425 

So spake Lavaine, and, when they reach'd the lists 

By Camelot in the meadow, let his eyes 

Bun thro' the peopled gallery, which half round 

Lay like a rainbow fall'n upon the grass. 

Until they found the clear-faced King, who sat 430 

Kobed in red samite, easily to be known, 

Since to his crown the golden dragon clung. 

And down his robe the dragon writhed in gold. 

And from the carven-work behind him crept 

Two dragons gilded, sloping down to make 435 

Arms for his chair, while all the rest of them 

Thro' knots and loops and folds innumerable 

Fled ever thro' the w^oodwork, till they found 



the celebration of the Eucharist. Ite, missa est, Go, tlie con- 
gregation is dismissed. Then it came to name the Eucharist, or 
Lord's Supper, itself. Used as a termination in Christinas, 
Candlemas, etc. 

422. Pendragon, see Introduction. 

426. lists, the ground inclosed for the combats, 

431. samite, a rich silk cloth. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 137 

The new design wliereintliey lost themselves, 
Yet with all ease, so tender was the work : 440 

And, in the costly canopy o'er him set, 
Blazed the last diamond of the nameless king. 
Then Lancelot answer'd young Lavaine and said, 
"Me you call great: mine is the firmer seat, 
The truer lance : but there is many a youth, 445 
Now crescent, who will come to all I am 
And overcome it ; and in me there dwells 
No greatness, save it be some far-off touch 
Of greatness to know well I am not great : 
There is the man." And Lavaine gaped upon him 
As on a thing miraculous, and anon 45 ^ 

The trumpets blew ; and then did either side. 
They that assail'd, and they that held the lists, 
Set lance in rest, strike spur, suddenly move. 
Meet in the midst, and there so furiously 455 

Shock, that a man far-off might well perceive, 
If any man that day were left afield. 
The hard earth shake, and a low thunder of arms. 
And Lancelot bode a little, till he saw 

441 canopy, from a Gr. word meaning a mosquito. Applied 
to tlie bed furnislied with overhangings to protect the sleeper 
against the insect ; then to whatever overarched one, now even 
to the sky. 

442. nameless king, see 1. 40. 

446. crescent, growing. The good in Lancelot here shows 
itself. 

450. gaped, looked open-mouthed. 

451. anon, A.-S. on an, in one, in one moment. 

456. Shock, came together, collided — an unusual meaning 
of the verb. 

457. This line is parenthetic. If there was any one left on 
horseback to perceive. The objects of perceive are in the next 
line. 

459. bode, waited. 



lo8 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Which were the weaker ; then he hurPd into it 460 
Against the stronger : little need to speak 
Of Lancelot in his glory ! King, duke, earl, 
Count, baron — whom he smote he overthrew. 

But in the field were Lancelot's kith and kin. 
Ranged with the Table Round that held the lists, 
Strong men, and wrathful that a stranger knight 
Should do and almost overdo the deeds 467 

Of Lancelot ; and one said to the other, " Lo ! 
What is he ? I do not mean the force alone — 
The grace and versatility of the man. 470 

Is it not Lancelot ? " " When has Lancelot worn 
Favor of any lady in the lists ? 
Not such his wont, as we, that know him, know." 
" How then ? who then ? " a fury seized tliem all, 
A fiery family passion for the name 475 

Of Lancelot, and a glory one with theirs. 
They couch'd their spears and prick'd their steeds 

and thus. 
Their plumes driv'n backward by the wind they made 
In moving, all together down upon him 
Bare, as a wild wave in the wide North-sea, 480 

Green-glimmering toward the summit, bears, with all 
Its stormy crests that smoke against the skies, 
Down on a bark, and overbears the bark, 
And him that helms it, so they overbore 
Sir Lancelot and his charger, and a spear, 485 

Down-glancing, lamed the charger, and a spear, 

482. smoke, the tops of the waves are caught up by the 
wind and tossed about in spray. _ 

484. helms, steers the bark, or boat. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 139 

rrick'd sharply liis own. cuirass, and the head 
Pierced thro' his side and there snapt and remain'd. 

Then Sir Lavaine did well and worshipfully ; 
He bore a knight of old repute to the earth, 490 

And brought his horse to Lancelot where he lay. 
He up the side, sweating with agony, got. 
But thought to do while he might yet endure, 
And, being lustily holpen by the rest. 
His party, — tho' it seemed half-miracle 495 

To those he fought with — drave his kith and kin. 
And all the Table Eound that held the lists. 
Back to the barrier ; then the trumpets blew 
Proclaiming his the prize who wore the sleeve 
Of scarlet, and the pearls ; and all the knights, 500 
His party, cried, '-Advance, and take thy prize, 
The diamoud;" but he answer'd, "Diamond me 
No diamonds ! for God's love, a little air ! 
Prize me no prizes, for my prize is death ! 
Hence will I, and, I charge you, follow me not." 505 

He spoke, and vanish'd suddenly from the field 
With young Lavaine into the poplar grove. 
There from his charger dowai he slid, and sat. 
Gasping to Sir Lavaine, " Draw the lance-head : " 
" Ah, my sweet lord Sir Lancelot," said Lavaine, 
" I dread me, if I draw it, you will die." 511 

But he, "I die already with it : draw — 

489. worshipfully, short form of worthshipfully , worthily, 
honorably. 

502. Diamond me. The noun used as a verb, as prize in 
1. 504. 

511. me is pleonastic — poetic use. 



140 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Draw," — and Lavaine drew, and Sir Lancelot gave 
A marvellous great shriek and ghastly, groan, 
And half his blood burst forth, and down he sank 
For the pure pain, and wholly swoon'd away. 516 
Then came the hermit out and bare him in. 
There stanch'd his wound; and there, in daily dou])t 
Whether to live or die, for many a week. 
Hid from the wide world's rumor by the grove 520 
Of poplars, with their noise of falling showers. 
And ever-tremulous aspen-trees, he lay. 

But on that day when Lancelot fled the lists, 
His party, knights of utmost North and West, 
Lords of waste marches, kings of desolate isles, 525 
Came round their great Pendragon, saying to him, 
"Eo, Sire, our knight thro' whom we won the day 
Hath gone sore wounded, and hath left his prize 
Untaken, crying that his prize is death." 
" Heaven hinder," said the King, " that such an one, 
So great a knight as Ave have seen to-day — 531 

He seemed to me another Lancelot, 
Yea, twenty times I thought him Lancelot — 
He must not pass uncared for. ' Wherefore, rise, 

Gawain, and ride forth and find the knight. 535 
AVounded and wearied, needs must he be near. 

1 charge you that you get at once to horse. 

525. marches, A.-S. inearc, a boundary, or border, of the 
land allotted to the families of the same blood. Mark came to 
be applied to the land within the bomidary. This division of 
land, separating those akin from strangers, was brought by 
the Anglo-Saxons into England. The coalescence of marks 
made shires. 

530. that such an one — should die. He is so agitated as to 
forget to finish the sentence. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 141 

And, knights and. kings, there breathes not one of 

you 
Will deem this prize of ours is rashly given : 
His prowess was too wondrous. We will do him 
No customary honor : since the knight 541 

Came not to us, of us to claim the prize, 
Ourselves will send it after. Eise and take 
This diamond and deliver it and return 
And bring us where he is and how he fares, 545 

And cease not from your quest until you find." 

So saying, from the carven flower above, 
To which it made a restless heart, he took, 
And gave, the diamond : then, from where he sat, 
At Arthur's right, with smiling face arose, 550 

With smiling face and frowning heart, a Prince 
In the mid might and flourish of his May, 
G-awain, surnamed The Courteous, fair and strong, 
And after Lancelot, Tristram, and Geraint, 
And Gareth, a good knight, but therewithal 555 

Sir Modred's brother, and the child of Lot, 
iSTor often loyal to his word, and now 
Wroth that the king's command to sally forth 
In quest of whom he knew not made him leave 
The banquet, and concourse of knights and kings. 



So all in wrath he got to horse and went ; 561 

While Arthur to the banquet, dark in mood, 
Past, thinking, " Is it Lancelot who has come, 
Despite the wound he spake of, all for gain 

545. bring us back word. 

552. mid might, in the full vigor of his youth. 

556. Sir Modred, a nephew of the King and a traitor to him. 



142 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Of glory, and has added wound to wound, 565 

And ridd'n away to die? " 80 fear'd the King, 
And, after two days' tarriance there, return'd. 
Then, when he saw the Queen, embracing, ask'd, 
*' Love, are you yet so sick ? " '' ^ay, lord," she 

said. 
" And where is Lancelot ? " Then the Queen, 

amazed, 570 

" Was he not with you ? w^on he not your prize ? " 
" Nay, but one like him." " Why that like was he." 
And when the King demanded how she knew. 
Said, " Lord, no sooner had ye parted from us. 
Than Lancelot told me of a common talk 575 

That men went down before his spear at* a touch 
But knowing he was Lancelot ; his great name 
Conquer'd: and therefore would he hide his name 
From all men, ev'n the King, and to this end 
Had made the pretext of a hindering wound 580 
That he might joust unknown of all, and learn 
If his old prowess were in aught decay'd : 
And added, ' Our true Arthur, when he learns. 
Will well allow my pretext, as for gain of purer 

glory.' " 

Then replied the King, 
" Far lovelier in our Lancelot had it been, 5S5 

In lieu of idly dallying with the truth. 
To have trusted me as he hath trusted you. 
Surely his King and most familiar friend 
Might well have kept his secret. True, indeed. 
Albeit I know my knights fantastical, 590 

567. tarriance, stay. 



LANCELOT AND ELATNP. 143 

80 tine a fear in our large Lancelot 

Must needs liave moved my laughter: now reiiiains 

But little cause for laughter : his own kin — 

111' news, my Queen, for all who love him, this ! — 

His kith and kin, not knowing, set upon him ; 595 

So that he went sore wounded from the field : 

Yet good news too : for goodly hopes are mine 

That Lancelot is no more a lonely heart. 

He wore, against his wont, upon his helm 

A. sleeve of scarlet, broider'd with great pearls, 600 

Some gentle maiden's gift." 

'' Yea, lord," she said, 
" Thy hopes are mine," and, saying that, she choked. 
And sharply turn'd about to hide her face. 
Past to her chamber, and there flung herself 
Down on the great King's couch, and writhed upon it, 
And clench'd her fingers till they bit the palm, 606 
And shriek'd out '' Traitor " to the unhearing wall. 
Then flash'd into wild tears, and rose again, 
And moved about her palace, proud and pale. 

Gawain the while thro' all the region round 610 
Rode with his diamond, wearied of the quest, 
Touch'd at all points, except the poplar grove, 
And came at last, tho' late,' to Astolat. 
AVhom, glittering in enamel'd arms, the maid 
Glanced at, and cried, '' What news from Camelot, 
lord ? 615 

What of the knight with the red sleeve ? " ^' He won." 

006. bit the palm, nails cut into it. Jealousy the cause. 
612. poplar grove, where Lancelot was with the hermit. 



144 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

'' L knew it," she said. "' But parted from the jousts 
Hurt in the side," whereat she caught her breath ; 
Thro' her own side she felt the sharp lance go ; 
Thereon she smote her hand : well-nigh she swoon'd ; 
And, whiie he gazed wonderingly at her, came 621 
The lord of Astolat out, to whom the Prince 
Reported who he was, and on what quest 
Sent, that he bore the prize and could not find 
The victor, but had ridden a random round 625 

T'o seek him, and was wearied of the search. 
To whom the lord of Astolat, " Bide with us, 
And ride no more at random, noble Prince ! 
Here was the knight, and here he left a shield ; 
This will he send or come for : furthermore 63c 

Our son is with him : Ave shall hear anon, 
Needs must we hear." To this the courteous Prince 
Accorded with his wonted courtesy, — 
Courtesy with a touch of traitor in it. 
And stay'cl ; and cast his eyes on fair Elaine : 635 
Where could be found face daintier? then her 

shape, — 
From forehead down to foot, perfect — again 
From foot to forehead exquisitely turn'd : 
" Well — if I bide, lo ! this wild flower for me ! " 
And oft they met among the garden yews, 640 

And there he set himself to play upon her 
With sallying wit, free flashes from a height 
Above her, graces of the court, and songs. 
Sighs, and slow smiles, and golden eloquence, 
And amorous adulation, till the maid 645 

Rebell'd against it, saying to him, " Prince, 
O loyal nephew of our noble King, 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 145 

Why ask you not to see the shield he left, 
Whence you might learn his name ? Why slight 

your King, 
And lose the quest he sent you on, and prove 650 
Xo surer than our falcon yesterday. 
Who lost the hern we slipt her at, and went 
To all the winds ? " " N'ay, by mine head," said he, 
" I lose it, as we lose the lark in heaven, 
damsel, in the light of your blue eyes : 655 

But, an ye will it, let me see the shield." 
And when the shield was brought, and Gawain saw 
Sir Lancelot's azure lions, crown'd with gold. 
Ramp in the field, he smote his thigh, and mock'd ; 
"Right was the King! our Lancelot! that true 

i^an ! " 66^ 

"And right was I," she answer'd merrily. "I, 
Who dream'd my knight the greatest knight of 

all." 
"And if /dream'd," said Gawain, "that you love 
This greatest knight, your pardon ! lo, you know it! 
Speak therefore : shall I waste myself in vain ? " 
Full simple was her answer, " What know I ? 666 

651. falcon, pronounced faivk'n, the name of a bird of 
strong beak and claws, trained to hunt other birds and even 
foxes and hares. Falconry came into Europe, from the East, 
verj' early, and was for centuries a great amusement of kings 
and nobles. It has now disappeared from Europe. The sports- 
man rode with the falcon resting on his wrist. When game 
was discovered, the hood was taken from the head of the falcon ; 
and, rising high above his destined prey, the bird swooped down 
upon it, seized it, and bore it away to the sportsman. 

0.5,3. To all the winds, in every direction. 

a~)9. Ramp, rampant, standing upright on his hind legs, in the 
field, or blank surface, of the shield ; but not in the posture of 
springing, which wonld be salient. 



146 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

My brethren have been all my fellowship, 

And I, when often they have talk'd of love, 

Wish'd it had been my mother, for they talk'd, 

Meseem'd, of v/hat they knew not; so myself — 670 

I know not if I know what true love is. 

But, if I know, then, if I love not him, 

I know there is none other I can love." 

"Yea, by God's death," said he, "ye love him 

well. 
But would not, knew ye what all others know, 675 
And whom he loves." " So be it," cried Elaine, 
And lifted her fair face and moved away: 
But he pursued her, calling, " Stay a little ! 
One golden minute's grace : he wore your sleeve : 
Would he break faith with one I may not name ? 
]^*Iust our true man change like a leaf at last? 6Si 
^ay — like enow : why then, far be it from me 
To cross our mighty Lancelot in his loves ! 
And, damsel, for I deem you know full w^ell 
Where your great knight is hidden, let me leave 
My quest with you ; the diamond also : here ! 686 
For, if you love, it will be sweet to give it ; 
And, if he love, it will be sweet to have it 
Erom your own hand; and, whether he love or not, 
A diamond is a diamond. Eare you well 690 

A thousand times ! — a thousand times farewell ! 
Yet, if he love, and his love hold, we two 

670. Meseem'd, it seemed to me, = the past tense of methinks. 
This is from A.-S. thytican, to appear, not thencan, to think. The 
7ne is dative object. • 

680. may not name, the Queen. How unconscious is Elaine 
of Gawain's charms or even of his meaning I She is the one foil 
of all the chief characters of the poem except Arthur. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 147 

May meet at court hereafter : there, I think, 
So you will learn the courtesies of" the court, 
We two shall know each other." 

Then he gave, 695 
And slightly kissed the hand to which he gave, 
The diamond, and, all wearied of the quest, 
Leapt on his horse, and, carolling as he went, 
A true-love ballad, lightly rode away. 



Thence to the court he past; there told the King 
What the King knew, " Sir Lancelot is the knight." 
And added, " Sir, my liege, so much I learnt ; 702 
But fail'd to find him tho' I rode all round 
The region : but I lighted on the maid 
Whose sleeve he wore; she loves him ; and to her, 705 
Deeming our courtesy is the truest law, 
I gave the diamond : she will render it ; 
For, by mine head, she knows his hiding-place." 

The seldom-frowning King frown'd, and replied, 
" Too courteous truly ! ye shall go no more 710 

On quest of mine, seeing that ye forget 
Obedience is the courtesy due to kings." 

He spake and parted. Wroth, but all in awe. 
For twenty strokes of the blood, without a word, 

G93. May meet, if Lancelot brings her as his bride to court. 

702. liege, first applied, Skeat says, as here, to the lord and 
not to the vassal. Means free ; and liege lord = lord of a free 
band, privileged men. 

714. twenty strokes of the blood, twenty beats of the pulse, 
fifteen seconds or so. 



148 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Linger'd that other, staring after him ; 715 

Then shook his hair, strode off, and buzz'd abroad 

About the maid of Astolat and her love. 

All ears were prick'd at once, all tongues were loosed; 

" The maid of Astolat loves Sir Lancelot, 

Sir Lancelot loves the maid of Astolat." 720 

Some read the King's face, some the Queen's, and all 

Had marvel what the maid might be ; but most 

Predoom'd her as unworthy. One old dame 

Came suddenly on the Queen with the sharp news. 

She, that had heard the noise of it before, 725 

But sorrowing Lancelot should have stoop'd so low, 

Marr'd her friend's aim with pale tranquillity. 

So ran the tale, like fire about the court, 

Fire in dry stubble a nine days' wonder flared : 

Till ev'n the knights at banquet twice or thrice 730 

Forgot to drink to Lancelot and the Queen ; 

And, pledging Lancelot and the lily maid. 

Smiled at each other, while the Queen, who sat 

With lips severely placid, felt the knot 

Climb in her throat, and with her feet unseen 735 

Crush'd the wild passion out against the floor 

718. ears were prick'd. An equine figure. The horse pricks 
his ears, thrusts them toward the sound it hears or the star- 
tling sight it sees. 

723. Predoom'd, prejudged. The people are here illustrating 
the tendency to judge harshly, rather than kindly, of one — the 
tendency which has caused the degeneracy of the word — doom, 
meaning at first only judgment, decision. 

727. Note the point to this line. 

729. nine days' wonder. A wonder was popularly supposed 
to last nine days. Cf. " I was seven of the nine days out of the 
wonder before you came," in As You Like It. 

734. felt the knot, felt herself choking with the passion of 
jealousy as they pledged, — drank to Lancelot and Elaine. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 149 

Beneath tlie banquet, where the meats became 
As wormwood, and she hated all who pledged. 

But far away the maid in Astolat, 
Her guiltless rival, she that ever kept 74° 

The one-day-seen Sir Lancelot in her heart, 
Crept to her father, while he mused alone, 
Sat on his knee, stroked his gray face and said, 
''Father, you call me wilful, and the fault 
Is yours who let me have my will, and now, 745 

Sweet father, will you let me loose my wits ? " 
''Nay," said he, "surely!" "Wherefore, let me 

hence," 
She answer'd, "and find out our dear Lavaine." 
" Ye will not lose your wits for dear Lavaine ; 
Bide," answer'd he : "we needs must hear anon 750 
Of him and of that other." " Ay," she said, 
" And of that other, for I needs must hence 
And find that other, wheresoe'er he be. 
And with mine own hand give his diamond to him, 
Lest I be found as faithless in the quest 755 

As yon proud Prince who left the quest to me. 
Sweet father, I behold him in my dreams 
Gaunt as it were the skeleton of himself, 
Death-pale, for lack of gentle maiden's aid. 
The gentler-born the maiden, the more bound, 760 
My father, to be sweet and serviceable 
To noble knights in sickness, as ye know, 

738. wormwood has no connection with loorm or with wood. 
It is from A.-S. wermdd, ware-mood, mind-preserver ; and points, 
says Skeat, to the supposed curative properties of the plant in 
mental affections. The bitterness of the plant is that to which 
Tennyson here refers. 



150 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

When these have worn their tokens ; let me hence 
I pray you.'' Then her father, nodding, said, 
"Ay, ay, the diamond : wit ye well, my child, 765 
Right fain were I to learn this knight were whole, 
Being our greatest ; yea, and you must give it — 
And sure I think this fruit is hung too high 
For any mouth to gape for save a Queen's — 
Nay, I mean nothing : so then, get you gone, 770 

Being so very wilful, you must go." 

Lightly, her suit allow'd, she slipt away ; 
And, while she made her ready for her ride, 
Her father's latest word liumm'd in her ear, 
" Being so very wilful you must go," 775 

And changed itself, and echoed in her heart, 
" Being so very wilful you must die." 
But she was happy enough, and shook it off 
As we shake off the bee that buzzes at us ; 
And in her heart she answer'd it and said, 780 

*' What matter, so I help him back to life ? " 
Then far away with good Sir Torre for guide. 
Rode o'er the long backs of the bushless downs 
To Camelot, and, before the city-gates, 
Came on her brother with a happy face 785 

Making a roan horse caper and curvet 
For pleasure all about a field of flowers : 
Whom when she saw, "Lavaine," she cried, 

" Lavaine, 
How fares my lord Sir Lancelot ? " He, amazed, 

768. this fruit, etc. He is above your level. Cf. Laertes' 
talk to Ophelia concerning Hamlet. 

786. roan, a mixed color, white and red blended. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 151 

" Torre and Elaine ! why here ? Sir Lancelot ! 790 
How know ye my lord's name is Lancelot ?" 
But when the maid had told him all her tale, 
Then turn'd Sir Torre, and, being in his moods. 
Left them, and under the strange-statued gate. 
Where Arthur's wars were render'd mystically, 795 
Past up the still rich city to his kin. 
His own far blood, which dwell at Camelot ; 
And her, Lavaine across the poplar grove 
Led to the caves : there first she saw the casque 
Of Lancelot on the wall : her scarlet sleeve, 800 
Tho' carved and cut, and half the pearls away, 
Stream'd from it still ; and in her heart she laugh'd. 
Because he had not loosed it from his helm, 
But meant once more, perchance, to tourney in it. 
And, when they gained the cell wherein he slept. 
His battle-writhen arms and mighty hands 806 

Lay naked on the wolfskin, and a dream 
Of dragging down his enemy made them move. 
Then she that saw him lying unsleek, unshorn. 
Gaunt as it were the skeleton of himself, 810 

Uttered a little, tender, dolorous cry. 
The sound, not wonted in a place so still. 
Woke the sick knight ; and, while he roll'd his eyes 
Yet blank from sleep, she started to him, saying, 
"Your prize, the diamond sent you by the King:" 
His eyes glisten'd : she fancied, " Is it for me ? " 816 
And, when the maid had told him all the tale 



797. far blood, those distantly related. 

799. casque, helm or helmet, a covering for the head in battle. 

812. The sound, to wliich the still place was unaccustomed. 

814. blank, no intelligence yet in tliem. 



152 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Of King and Prince, the diamond sent, the quest 

Assign'd to her not worthy of it, she knelt 

Full lowly by the corners of his bed, 820 

And laid the diamond in his open hand. 

Her face was near, and, as we kiss the child 

That does the task assign'd, he kiss'd her face. 

At once she slipt like water to the floor. 

" Alas," he said, " your ride hath wearied you. 825 

Rest must you have." " ]!io rest for me," she said; 

"Nay, for near you, fair lord, I am at rest." 

What might she mean by that ? his large, black eyes, 

Yet larger thro' his leanness, dwelt upon her. 

Till all her heart's sad secret blazed itself 830 

In the heart's colors on her simple face ; 

And Lancelot look'd, and was perplext in mind, 

And, being weak in body, said no more ; 

But did not love the color ; woman's love, 

Save one, he not regarded, and so turn'd, 835 

Sighing, and feign'd a sleep until he slept. 

Then rose Elaine and glided thro' the fields, 
And past beneath the weirdly-sculptured gates 
Far up the dim, rich city to her kin ; 
There bode the night: but woke v/ith dawn, and 
past 840 

Down thro' the dim, rich city to the fields, 
Thence to the cave : so day by day she past 
In either twilight, ghost-like to and fro 
Gliding, and every day she tended him. 

829. larger thro', seemingly larger, as his face had shrunk 
away. 

84^!. either, morning and evening. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 153 

And likewise many a night : and Lancelot 845 

Would, tho' he call'd his wound a little hurt 

Whereof he should be quickly wdiole, at times 

Brain-feverous in his heat and agony, seem 

Uncourteous, even he : but the meek maid 

Sweetly forbore him ever, being to him 850 

Meeker than any child to a rough nurse, 

Milder than any mother to a sick child. 

And never woman yet, since man's first fall, 

Did kindlier unto man, but her deep love 

Upbore her; till the hermit, skill'd in all 855 

The simples and the science of that time. 

Told him that her fine care had saved his life. 

And the sick man forgot her simple blush, 

Would call her friend and sister, sweet Elaine, 

Would listen for her coming, and regret 860 

Her parting step, and held her tenderly. 

And loved her with all love except the love 

Of man and woman wdien they love their best. 

Closest, and sweetest, and had died the death 

In any knightly fashion for her sake. 865 

And, perad venture, had he seen her first. 

She might have made this and that other world 

Another world for the sick man; but now 

The shackles of an old love straiten'd him, 

His honor rooted in dishonor stood, 870 

And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true. 

856. simples, medicinal herbs. Webster says, " So called 
because each vegetable is supposed to possess its particular 
virtue and therefore to constitute a simple remedy." 

(SfU. had died, would have died. 

SOit. straiten'd, confined, prevented him. 

871. And faith, etc. His love for the Queen, cherished in dis- 



154 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Yet the great knight in his mid-sickness made 
Full many a holy vow and pure resolve. 
These, as but born of sickness, could not live : 
For, when the blood ran lustier in him again, 875 
Full often the bright image of one face. 
Making a treacherous quiet in his heart. 
Dispersed his resolution like a cloud. 
Then, if the maiden, while that ghostly grace 
Beam'd on his fancy, spoke, he answer'd not, 880 
Or short and coldly, and she knew right well 
What the rough sickness meant, but what this 

meant 
She knew not, and the sorrow dimm'd her sight. 
And drave her ere her time across the fields 
Far into the rich city, where alone 885 

She murmur'd, " Vain, in vain : it cannot be. 
He will not love me : how then ? must I die ? " 
Then as a little, helpless, innocent bird. 
That has but one plain passage of few notes. 
Will sing the simple passage o'er and o'er 890 

For all an April morning, till the ear 
Wearies to hear it, so the simple maid 
Went half the night, repeating, " Must I die ? " 
And now to right she turn'd, and now to left. 
And found no ease in turning or in rest ; 895 



regard of his and her relations to the King, kept him true to 
her, but false to his lord. 

874. could not live. The feebleness of vows to live better, 
made in sickness and under fear of death, is a common theme 
of writers. 

879. ghostly grace, the grace of the Queen seen by him 
vaguely and in memory. 

884. ere her time, before the evening twilight. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 155 

And -^Hini or deatli " she mutter\l, "Death or 

him," 
Again and like a burthen, " Him or death." 

But when Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole, 
To Astolat returning rode the three. 
There, morn by morn, arraying her sweet self 900 
In that wherein she deemVl she look'd her best, 
She came before Sir Lancelot, for she thought, 
"If I be loved, these are my festal robes; 
If not, the victim's flowers before he fall." 
And Lancelot ever prest upon the maid 905 

That she should ask some goodly gift of him 
For her own self or hers ; " And do not shun 
To speak the w^ish most near to your true heart; 
Such service have ye done me that I make 
My will of yours, and Prince and Lord am I 910 
In mine own land, and what I will I can." 
Then like a ghost she lifted up her face, 
But like a ghost without the power to speak. 
And Lancelot saw that she withheld her wish. 
And bode among them yet a little space 915 

Till he should learn it; and one morn it chanced 
He found her in among the garden yews. 
And said, " Delay no longer, speak your wish, 
Seeing I must go to-day : " then out she brake, 
" Going ? and we shall never see you more. 920 

And I must die for want of one bold Tvord." 
" Speak : that I live to hear," he said, " is yours." 

897. burthen, like the refrain of a song, the part often 
repeated. 
911. can do. 
922. that I am alive to hear is due to your nursing care. 



156 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Then suddenly and passionately she spoke: 

" I have gone mad. I love you : let me die." 

" Ah, sister," answer'd Lancelot, " what is this ? " 925 

And, innocently extending her white arms, 

"Your love," she said, ''your love — to be your 

wife." 
And Lancelot answer'd, " Had I chos'n to wed, 
I had been wedded earlier, sweet Elaine : 
But now there never will be wife of mine." 930 

" No, no," she cried, " I care not to be wife. 
But to be with you still, to see your face, 
To serve you, and to follow you thro' the world." 
And Lancelot answer'd, " Nay, the world, the world. 
All ear and eye, with such a stupid heart 935 

To interpret ear and eye, and such a tongue 
To blare its own interpretation — nay, 
Full ill then should I quit your brother's love. 
And your good father's kindness." And she said, 
" Not to be with you, not to see your face — 940 
Alas for me, theu, my good days are done." 
"Nay, noble maid," he answer'd, "ten times nay ! 
This is not love : but love's first flash in youth, 
Most common : yea I know it of mine own self: 
And you yourself will smile at your own self 945 
Hereafter, when you yield your flower of life 
Tanone more fitly yours, not thrice your age : 
And then will I, for true you are and sweet 
Beyond mine old belief in womanhood, 

937. blare, roar ; used generally of trumpets. The root the 
same as that of blazon. 

938. quit, to repay, to be discharged of; L. quietus, free, 
satisfied. 

916. your flower of Ife, yourself in your prime. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 157 

More specially, should your good knight be poor, 950 

Endow you with broad land and territory, 

Even to the half my realm beyond the seas, 

So that would make you happy ; furthermore, 

Ev'n to the death, as tho' jq were my blood, 

In all your quarrels will I be your knight. 955 

This will I do, dear damsel, for your sake, 

And more than this I cannot." 

While he spoke 
She neither blush'd nor shook, but deathly-pale 
Stood grasping what was nearest, then replied, 
" Of all this will I nothing ; " and so fell, 960 

And thus they bore her swooning to her tower. 

Then spake, to whom thro' those black walls of 
yew 
Their talk had pierced, her father. " Ay, a flash, 
I fear me, that will strike my blossom dead. 
Too courteous are you, fair Lord Lancelot. 965 

I pray you, use some rough discourtesy 
To blunt or break her passion." 

Lancelot said, 
" That were against me : what I can I will ; " 
And there that day remain'd, and toward even 
Sent for his shield : full meekly rose the maid, 970 
Stript off the case, and gave the naked shield ; 

953. So that, if that. 

955. In all your quarrels. The knights of chivalry rode 
about, avenging wrongs, especially of the gentler sex. 
962. Then spake he. 
968. That were againsflne, I cannot do it. 



158 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Then, when she heard his horse upon the stones, 

Unclasping, flung the casement back, and look'd 

Down on his helm, from which her sleeve had gone. 

And Lancelot knew the little clinking sound ; 975 

And she by tact of love was well aware 

That Lancelot knew that she was looking at him. 

And yet he glanced not up, nor waved his hand, 

Nor bade farewell, but sadly rode away. 

This was the one discourtesy that he used. 980 

So in her tower alone the maiden sat : 

His very shield was gone ; only the case. 

Her own poor work, her. empty labor, left. 

But still she heard him, still his picture form'd 

And grew between her and the pictured wall. 9S5 

Then came her father, saying in low tones, 

" Have comfort," whom she greeted quietly. 

Then came her brethren, saying, '' Peace to thee. 

Sweet sister," whom she answered with all calm. 

But, when they left her to herself again, 990 

Death, like a friend's voice from a distant field 

Approaching thro' the darkness, call'd; the owls' 

Wailing had power upon her, and she mixt 

Her fancies with the sallow-rifted glooms 

Of evening, and the moanings of the wind.^" 995 



And in those days she made a little song. 
And call'd her song " The song of Love and Death." 
And sang it: sweetly could she make and sing. 

983. What figure in labor ? 
J-.-994. sallow-rifted glooms, the glooms of eveuing streaked 
with pale yellow. O 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 10X 



m 



" Sweet is true love tlio' given in vain, in vain ; 
And sweet is death, who puts an end to pain; looo 
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I. 

" Love, art thou sweet ? then bitter death must be : 
Love, thou art bitter ; sweet is death to me. 

Love, if death be sweeter, let me die. 

'' Sweet love, that seems not made to fade away. 
Sweet death, that seems to make us loveless clay, 

1 know not which is sweeter, no, not I. 1007 

' " I fain would follow love, if that could be ; 
I needs must follow death, who calls for me ; 
Call and I follow, I follow ! let me die." ibio 

High with the last line scaled her voice ; and this. 
All in a fiery dawning wild with wind. 
That shook her tower, the brothers heard, and 

thought 
With shuddering, "Hark the Phantom of the 

house 
That ever shrieks before a death," and call'd 1015 
The father, and all three in hurry and fear 
Kan to her, and lo ! the blood-red light of dawn 
Flared on her face, she shrilling, " Let me die ! " 

As when we dwell upon a word we know. 
Repeating, till the word Ave know so well 1020 

1002. death must be bitter. The little song overflows with 
pathos. 

1011. scaled, ran np the scale, rose in pjtch. 

1012. fiery dawning, early, the clouds still of ^ tiery red. ^ 

1011. Phantom, etc. A super*;titious belief. 



160 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Becomes a wonder and we know not why, 

So dwelt the father on her face and thought, 

" Is this Elaine ? '' till back the maiden fell, 

Then gave a languid hand to each, and lay. 

Speaking a still good-morrow with her eyes. 1025 

At last she said, " Sweet brothers, y ester night 

I seem'd a curious, little, maid again. 

As happy as when we dwelt among the woods. 

And when ye used to take me with the flood 

Up the great river in the boatman's boat. 1030 

Only, ye would not pass beyond the cape 

That has the poplar on it : there ye fixt 

Your limit, oft returning with the tide. 

And yet I cried because ye would not pass 

Beyond it, and far up the shining flood 1035 

Until we found the palace of the king. 

And yet ye would not ; but this night I dream'd 

That I was all alone upon the flood, 

And then I said, ' Now shall I have my will : ' 

And there I woke, but still the wish remaiu'd. 1040 

So let me hence that I may p§«s at last 

Beyond the poplar and far u^ the flood. 

Until I find the palace of the\|dng. -^ 

There will I enter in among them all, 

And no man there wdll dare to mock at me ; 1045 

But there the fine Gawain will wonder at me. 

And there the great Sir Lancelot muse at me ; 

Gawain, who bade a thousand farewells to me, 

Lancelot, who coldly went nor bade me one : 

1027. I seem'd to be. 

1040. the wish to go beyond the poplar, up to the palace of 
the King. 



V 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 161 

And there the King will know me and my love, 1050 
And there the Queen herself will pity me, 
And all the gentle court will welcome me, 
And after my long voyage I shall rest I " 

" Peace," said her father, " my child, ye seem 
Light-headed, for what force is yours to go 1055 

So far, being sick ? and wherefore would ye look 
On this proud fellow again, who scorns us all ? " 

Then the rough Torre began to heave and move, 
And bluster into stormy sobs, and say, 
" I never loved him : an I meet with him, 1060 

I care not howsoever great he be. 
Then will I strike at him and strike him down. 
Give me good fortune, I will strike him dead. 
For this discomfort he hath done the house." 

To which the gentle sister made reply, 1065 

" Fret not yourself, dear brother, nor be wroth. 
Seeing it is no more Sir Lancelot's fault 
Not to love me, than it is mine to love 
Him of all men who seems to me the highest." 
" Highest ? " the father ans wer'd, echoing '- highest ? " 
(He meant to break the passion in her) " nay, 1071 
Daughter, I know not what you call the highest ; 
But this I know, for all the people know it. 
He loves the Queen, and in an open shame : 
And she returns his love in open shame. 1075 

If this be high, what is it to be low ? " 

1060. an I. See 1. 218. 






162 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

Then spake the lily maid of Astolat, 
" Sweet father, all too faint and sick am I 
For anger : these are slanders : never yet ^ 

Was noble man l}ut made ignoble talk. loSa-x/r 

fee makes no friend who never made a foe^ U't^''\ 
But now it is my glory to have loved ^ 

One peerless, without stain : so let me pass, 
My father, howsoe'er I seem to you, 
Not all unhappy, having loved God's best 1085 

And greatest, tho' my love had no return: 
Yet, seeing you desire your child to live, 
Thanks, but you work against your own desire ; 
For, if I could believe the things you say, 
I should but die the sooner ; wherefore cease, 1090 
Sweet father, and bid call the ghostly man 
Hither, and let me shrive me clean, and die." 

So when the ghostly man had come and gone. 
She with a face, bright as for sin forgiven, 
Besought Lavaine to write, as she devised, 1095 

A letter, word for word ; and, when he ask'd, 
" Is it for Lancelot, is it for my dear lord ? 
Then will I bear it gladly ; " she replied, 
" For Lancelot and the Queen and all the world, 
V)\\t I myself must bear it." Then he wrote noo 

1080. This poem, like all of Tennyson's, is gemmed with epi- 
grammatic lines, full of wisdom. 

1083. pass, go on, die. We call the fmieral-bell the passing- 
bell. The last poem of the Idylls of the King is the Passing of 
Arthur. 

1091. ghostly man, the priest. Ghostly (the h inserted) from 
A.-S. geist, the spirit, or soul. 

1092. shrive me, hear my confession, and absolve me from all 
sin. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 163 

The letter she devised ; which, being writ 

And fokled, " sweet father, tender and true, 

Deny me not," she said — " ye never yet 

Denied my fancies — this, however strange. 

My latest : lay the letter in my hand 1105 

A little ere I die, and close the hand 

Upon it; I shall guard it even in death. 

And when the heat is gone from out my heart. 

Then take the little bed on which I died 

For Lancelot's love, and deck it like the Queen's 

For richness, and me also like the Queen nn 

In all I have of rich, and lay me on it. 

And let there be prepared a chariot-bier 

To take me to the river, and a barge 

Be ready on the river, clothed in black. 1115 

I go in state to court to meet the Queen. 

There surely I shall speak for mine own self, 

And none of you can speak for me so well. 

And therefore let our dumb, old man alone 

Go with me; he can steer and row, and he 1120 

Will guide me to that palace, to the doors." 

She ceased : her father promised ; whereupon 
She grew so cheerful that they deem'd her death 
Was rather in the fantasy than the blood. 
But ten slow mornings past, and on the eleventh 
Her father laid the letter in her hand, 1126 

And closed the hand upon it, and she died. 
So that day there was dole in Astolat. 

1111. For richness, in point of richness. 
1113. chariot-bier, a wheeled vehicle on which a dead body is 
borne. 

1128. dole, grief. 



1(34 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

But when the next sun brake from underground, 
Then, those two brethren slowly, with bent brows, 
Accompanying the sad chariot-bier, 1131 

Past like a shadow through the field, tluit shone 
Full-summer, to that stream whereon the barge, 
Pall'd all its length in blackest samite, lay. 
There sat the lifelong creature of the house, 1135 
Loyal, the dumb old servitor, on deck. 
Winking his eyes, and twisted all his face. 
So those two brethren from the chariot took 
And on the black decks laid her in her bed, 
Set in her hand a lily, o'er her hung 1140 

The silken case with braided blazonings, 
And kiss'd her quiet brows, and saying to her, 
" Sister, farewell for ever," and again, 
" Farewell, sweet sister," parted all in tears. 
Then rose the dumb old servitor, and the dead, 1145 
Oar'd by the dumb, went upward with the flood — 
In her right hand the lily, in her left 
The letter — all her bright hair streaming down — 
And all the coverlid was cloth of gokl 
Drawn to her waist, and she herself in white 1150 
All but her face, and that clear-featured face 
Was lovely, for she did not seem as dead 
But fast asleep, and lay as though she smiled. 

V- . "^ 

^ That day Sir Lancelot at the palace craved 
Audience of Guinevere, to give at last 1155 

The price of half a realm, his costly gift, 

1130. bent brows, heads bent in sorrow. 

1133. Full-summer, in the light of midsummer. 

1131. Pall'd, draped. 



LANCELOT AXD ELAINE 165 

Hard-won and hardly won with bruise and Wow, 
With deaths of others, and almost his own, — • 
The nine-years-fought-for diamonds : for he saw 
One of her house, and sent him to the Queen 1160 
Bearing his wish, whereto the Queen agreed 
With such and so unmoved a majesty 
She might have seem'd her statue, but that he, 
Low-drooping till he well nigh kiss'd her feet 
For loyal awe, saw with a sidelong eye 1165 

The shadow of some piece of pointed lace, 
In the Queen's shadow, vibrate on the walls, 
And parted, laughing in his courtly heart. 

All in an oriel on the summer side, 
Vine-clad, of Arthur's palace toward the stream. 
They met, and Lancelot, kneeling, utter'd, "Queen, 
Lady, my liege, in whom I have my joy, 1172 

Take, what I had not won except for you, 
These jewels, and make me happy, making them 
An armlet for the roundest arm on earth, 1175 

Or necklace for a neck to which the swan's 
Is tawnier than her cygnet's : these are words : 

1167. vibrate. She might have seemed a statue, but, by tlie 
vibration of the shadow of the lace, the courtier knew she was 
trembling with emotion. 

1169. oriel, a windowed recess in a room. Any small room 
more private and better adorned than the rest of the house, 
summer side, sunny-side. 

1175. armlet, literally a small arm, and then an ornament for 
the arm. 

1177. tawuier. Taiomj is another spelling for tanmj, brown, 
sunburnt. The passage seems to mean that the necklace into 
which she was to make the diamonds would be as much browner 
than her neck as the mother swan's neck is browner than her 
young swan's, the cygnet's. 



166 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Your beauty is your beauty, and I sin 

In speaking, yet grant my worship of it 

Words, as we grant grief tears. Sacli sin in words 

Perchance we both can pardon; but, my Queen, uSi 

I hear of rumors flying through your court. 

Our bond, as not the bond of man and wife. 

Should have in it an absoluter trust 

To make up that defect : let rumors be : 11S5 

When did not rumors fly ? these, as I trust 

That you trust me in your own nobleness, 

I may not well believe that you believe." 

While thus he spoke, half turn'd away, the Queen 
Brake from the vast oriel-embowering vine 1190 

Leaf after leaf, and tore, and cast them off. 
Till all the place whereon she stood was green ; 
Then, when he ceased, in one cold passive hand 
Received at once and laid aside the gems 
There on a table near her, and replied : 1195 

" It may be I am quicker of belief 
Than you believe me. Lancelot of the Lake, 
Our bond is not the bond of man and wife. 
This good is in it, whatsoe'er of ill. 
It can be broken easier. I for you 1200 

This many a year have done despite and wrong 
To one whom ever in my heart of hearts 

1180. Words, etc., allow me to put my feeliog into words, as 
we allow one in grief to cry. 

1182. rumors flying, that her regard for him was waning. 
He argues that he and she were not bound together by the 
marriage tie; and that to compensate for this lack, they should 
volaidarlly trust each other more completely. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 167 

I did acknowledge nobler. What are these ? 

Diamonds for me ? they had been thrice their worth 

Being your gift, had you not lost your own. 1205 

To loyal hearts the value of all gifts 

Must vary as the giver's. Not for me ! 

For her ! for your new fancy. Only this 

Grant me, I pray you : have your joys apart. 

I doubt not that, however changed, you keep 12 10 

So much of what is graceful : and myself 

Would shun to break those bounds of courtesy 

In which, as Arthur's queen, I move and rule : 

So cannot speak my mind. An end to this ! 

A strange one! yet I take it with Amen. 1215 

So pray you, add my diamonds to her pearls ; 

Deck her with these ; tell her she shines me down : 

An armlet for an arm to which the Queen's 

Is haggard, or a necklace for a neck 

as much fairer as a faith once fair 1220 

Was richer than these diamonds ! hers, not mine — 

Nay, by the mother of our Lord himself. 

Or hers or mine, mine now to work my will — 

She shall not have them." 

Saying which she seized, 
And, through the casement, standing wide for heat, 

1203. acknowledge nobler. We are grateful that this confes- 
sion is extorted from her. Read Guinevere to see how sinful she 
afterwards became, and then how sincerely penitent. 

1205. your own worth.. 

1206. Another golden line. 

1214. cannot speak, etc., as queen I cannot reprove you if you 
and Elaine exhibit your love before me, so have your joys apart 
from me — elsewhere. 

1222. The woman's heart here speaks. 

1225. standing wide, open on account of the heat. 



168 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Flung tliem, and down they flasli'd, and smote the 
stream ! 1226 

Then from the smitten surface flash'd, as it were, 
Diamonds to meet them, and they past away. 
Then, while Sir Lancelot leant, in half disdain 
At love, life, all things, on the window ledge, 1230 
Close underneath his eyes, and right across 
Where these had fallen, slowly past the barge 
Whereon the lily maid of Astolat 
Lay smiling, like a star in blackest night. 

But the wild Queen, who saw not, burst away 1235 
To weep and wail in secret; and the barge. 
On to the palace-doorway sliding, paused. 
There two stood arm'd, and kept the door ; to whom. 
All up the marble stair, tier over tier. 
Were added mouths that gaped, and eyes that ask'd, 
" What is it ? " But that oarsman's haggard face. 
As hard and still as is the face that men 1242 

Shape to their fancy's eye from broken rocks 
On some cliff-side, appall'd them, and they said, 
"He is enchanted, cannot speak — and she, 1245 

Look how she sleeps — the Fairy Queen, so fair ! 
Yea, but how pale ! what are the}^ ? flesh and blood? 
Or come to take the King to fairy land ? 
For some do hold our Arthur cannot die, 
But that he passes into fairy land." 1250 

While thus they babbled of the King, the King 
Came girt with knights : then turn'd the tongueless 
man 

1234. like a star, etc., the body in white relieved upon the 
pall of the samite. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 169 

From the half-face to the full eye, and rose 

And pointed to the damsel, and the doors. 

So Arthur bade the meek Sir Percivale 1255 

And pure Sir Galahad to uplift the maid ; 

And reverently they bore her into hall. 

Then came the fine Gawain and wonderVl at her, 

And Lancelot later came and mused at her, 

And last the Queen herself and pitied her: 1260 

But Arthur spied the letter in her hand, 

Stoopt, took, brake seal, and read it ; this was all : 

" Most noble lord. Sir Lancelot of the Lake, 
I, sometime call'd the maid of Astolat, 
Come, for you left me taking no farewell, 1265 

Hither to take my last farewell of you. 
I loved you, and my love had no return. 
And therefore my true love has been my death. 
And therefore to our lady Guinevere, 
And to all other ladies, I make moan. 1270 

Pray for my soul, and yield me burial. 
Pray for my soul, thou too. Sir Lancelot, 
As thou art a knight peerless." 

Thus he read. 
And, ever in the reading, lords and dames 
Wept, looking often from his face who read 1275 
To hers which lay so silent, and at times 
So touch'd were they, half-thinking that her lips 
Who had devised the letter moved again. 

1253. to the full eye, turning from a side view to look the 
King full in the eye. 

1264. sometime, formerly. 



170 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Then freely spoke Sir Lancelot to them all ; 
" My lord, liege Arthur, and all ye that hear, 1280 
Know that for this most gentle maiden's death 
Eight heavy am I; for good she was and true, 
But loved me with a love beyond all love 
In women, whomsoever I have known. 
Yet to be loved makes not to love again ; 1285 

Not at my years, however it hold in youth. 
I swear by truth and knighthood that I gave 
No cause, not willingly, for such a love : 
To this I call my friends in testimony, 
Her brethren, and her father, who himself 1290 

Besought me to be plain and blunt, and use, 
To break her passion, some discourtesy 
Against my nature : what I could, I did. 
I left her, and I bade her no farewell. 
Though, had I dreamt the damsel would have died, 
I might have put ni}^ wits to some rough use, 1296 
And help'd her from herself." 

Then said the Queen, 
(Sea was her wrath, yet working after storm) 
" Ye might at least have done her so much grace. 
Fair lord, as would have help'd her from her death." 
He raised his head, their eyes met and hers fell, 1301 
He adding, "Queen, she would not be content 
Save that I wedded her, which could not be. 
Then might she follow me through the world, she 
ask'd ; 

1288. not. The second negative here strengthens the first. 
1298. Sea was her wrath, her w rath raged like the sea after 
a storm. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 111 

It could not be, I told her that her love 1305 

Was but the flash of youth, would darken down 

To rise hereafter in a stiller flame 

Toward one more worthy of her. Then would I, 

More specially were he she wedded poor, 

Estate them with large land and territory 13 10 

In mine own realm beyond the narrow seas, 

To keep them in all joyance ; more than this 

I could not ; this she would not, and she died." 

He pausing, Arthur answer'd, " my knight. 
It will be to thy worship, as my knight, 1315 

And mine, as head of all our Table Eound, 
To see that she be buried worshipfully." 

So toward that shrine which then in all the realm 
Was richest, Arthur leading, slowly went 
The raarshall'd order of their Table Round, 1320 
And Lancelot sad beyond his wont to see 
The maiden buried, not as one unknown, 
Nor meanly, but with gorgeous obsequies, 
And mass, and rolling music, like a queen. 
And, when the knights had laid her comely head 1325 
Low in the dust of half-forgotten kings. 
Then Arthur spake among them, " Let her tomb 
Be costly ; and her image thereupon. 
And let the shield of Lancelot at her feet 
Be carven, and her lily in her hand. 1330 

And let the story of her dolorous voyage 
For all true hearts be blazon'd on her tomb 
In letters gold and azure ! " which was wrought 

1.315. worship, honor. See 1. 491. 



172 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

Thereafter; but, when now the lords and (hmies 
And people, from the high door streaming, brake 1335 
Disorderly, as homeward each, the Queen, 
Who mark'd Sir Lancelot where he moved apart. 
Drew near, and sigh'd, in passing, " Lancelot, 
Forgive me ; mine was jealousy in love.'' 
He answer'd with his eyes upon tlie ground, 13^0 
"That is love's curse; pass on, my Queen, for- 
given." 
But Arthur, who beheld his cloudy brows, 
Approach'd him, and with full affection said : 

" Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have 
Most love and most affiance, for I know 1345 

What thou hast been in battle by my side. 
And many a time have watched thee at the tilt 
Strike down the lusty and long-practised knight. 
And let the younger and unskill'd go by 
To win his honor and to make his name, 1350 

And loved thy courtesies and thee, a man 
Made to be loved ; but now I would to God, 
Seeing the homeless trouble in thine eyes, 
Thou could st have loved this maiden, shaped, it 

seems, 
By God for thee alone, and from her face, 1355 

If one may judge the living by the dead. 
Delicately pure and marvellously fair, 
Who might have brought thee, now a lonely man, 
Wifeless and heirless, noble issue, sons 
B )rn to the glory of thy name and fame, 1360 

My knight, the great Sir Lancelot of the Lake." 
1345. affiance, trust. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE 173 

Then answer'd Lancelot, ^^ Fair she was, my King, 
Pure, as you ever wish your knights to be. 
To doubt her fairness were to want an eye, 
To doubt her pureness were to want a heart — 1365 
Yea, to be loved, if what is worthy love 
Could bind him, but free love will not be bound." 

" Free love, so bound, were freest," said the King. 
"^ Let love be free ; free love is for the best : 
And, after heaven, on our dull side of death, 1370 
What should be best, if not so pure a love 
Clothed in so pure a loveliness ? yet thee 
She fail'd to bind, though being, as I think. 
Unbound as yet, and gentle, as I know." 

And Lancelot answer'd nothing, but he went, 1375 
And, at the inrunning of a little brook. 
Sat by the river in a cove, and watch'd 
The high reed wave, and lifted up his eyes 
And saw the barge that brought her, moving 

down, 
Far-off, a blot upon the stream, and said 13S0 

Low in himself, " Ah ! simple heart and sweet, 
Ye loved me, damsel, surely with a love 
Far tenderer than my Queen's. Pray for thy soul ? 
Ay, that will I. Farewell too — now at last — 
Farewell, fair lily. ' Jealousy in love ? ' 1385 

Not rather dead love's harsh heir, jealous pride? 



1370. after heaven, next to heaven. 
1380. a blot, a speck. 

1384. now at last, he had not bidden her farewell on leaving 
Astolat. 



174 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Queen, if I grant the jealousy as of love, 
May not your crescent fear for name and fame 
Speak, as it waxes, of a love that wanes ? 
Why did the King dwell on my name to me ? i| 
Mine own name shames me, seeming a reproach, 
Lancelot, whom the Lady of the Lake 
Caught from his mother's arms — the wondrous one 
Who passes thro' the vision of the night — 
She chanted snatches of mysterious hymns 1395 

Heard on the winding waters ; eve and morn 
She kiss'd me saying, ' Thou art fair, my child, 
As a king's son,' and often in her arms 
She bare me, pacing on the dusky mere. 
Would she had drown'd me in it, where'er it 
be ! 1400 

For what am I ? what profits me my name 
Of greatest knight ? I fought for it, and have it : 
Pleasure to have it, none ; to lose it, pain ; 
Now grown a part of me : but what use in it ? 
To make men worse by making my sin known ? 1405 
Or sin seem less, the sinner seeming great ? 
Alas for Arthur's greatest knight, a man 
Not after Arthur's heart! I needs must break 
These bonds that so defame me : not without 
She wills it : would I, if she will'd it ? nay, 1410 
Who knows ? but, if I would not, then may God, 

1387. jealousy in love did the Queen call her feeling? Is 
it not rather jealous pride, which comes only when love is 
dead ? 

1388. crescent, growing. 

1389. waxes, grows — obsolescent. 

1399. mere, sea ; L. mare. Kept in our mermaid, meremaid, 
and in ^nerman. 



LANCELOT AND ELAINE l75 

I pray Hi in, send a sudden angel down 
To seize me by the hair and bear me far, 
And fling me deep into that forgotten mere, 
Among the tumbled fragments of the hills.'' 1415 

So groan'd Sir Lancelot in remorseful pain, ^ 
Not knowing he should die a holy man. j 



THE HOLY GRAIL 



Tennyson's Holy Grail is based on a conception that has 
found expression under similar titles since a.d. 1100, when 
it first appeared in verse. 

The Holy Grail, according to some legends of the middle 
ages, was the cup used by our Saviour in dispensing the wine 
at the last supper ; and according to others, the platter on 
which the paschal lamb was served at the last Passover ob- 
served by our Lord. By some it was said to have been pre- 
served by Joseph of Arimathea, who received into it the 
blood which flowed from the Redeemer's wounds as He hung 
on the cross. By others it was said to have been brought 
down from heaven by the angels, and committed to the 
charge of knights, who guarded it on the top of a lofty 
mountain. It is believed by some that where the body or 
the blood of Christ is, there are His soul and His divinity. 
That the Grail — such being its contents — should be marvel- 
ous, divine, mysterious, was but logical and natural. This 
cup, according to the legend, if approached by any but a 
perfectly pure and holy person, would be borne away and 
vanish from sight. The quest of the Grail was " the com- 
mencement of all bold enterprise, the occasion of all prowess 
and heroic deeds, the investigation of all the sciences, the 
demonstration of great wonders, the end of all bounty and 
goodness, the marvel of all marvels." 

M. Paulin Paris, who has been engaged for nearly forty 
years in the study of Arthurian romance, is of the opinion, 
that the legend conception came from some Welsh monk or 
hermit who lived early in the eighth century ; that its guid- 
ing and essential purpose was an assertion for the British 
Church of an independent derivation of its Christianity 
N 177 



178 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

direct from Palestine, and not throngh IJonie ; that the con- 
ception was embodied in a book called. Liber Gradalis^ or 
De Gradali ; that this book was kept for more than three 
hundred years from a fear lest it should bring them into 
collision with the hierarchy and make their orthodoxy sus- 
pected ; that it came to be known and read in the second 
lialf of the twelfth century ; that a French poet, Robert de 
Boron, who probably had not seen the book, but received 
information regarding it, was the first to embody the con- 
ception in a vernacular literary form by writing his poem of 
Joseph (V Arimathie^ and that, after Boron, Walter Map, and 
others came into the field. It is maintained by English 
writers generally that the conception arose certainly on 
J5ritish ground, but in the twelfth century, not in the 
eighth ; that it was introduced by some master-hand, prob- 
ably that of Walter Map, into every branch of Artliurian 
romance ; and that if Map was not one author of the con- 
ception, as seems highly probable, he first invested it in 
literary form. 

Accepting the general testimony of the MSS. , and assum- 
ing without further proof that Map composed the original 
book of the Saint Graal, the genesis of the work seems not 
difficult to trace. 

In early life, Map was a canon of Salisbury ; either after- 
wards or at the same time he was parish priest of Westbury 
near Bristol. Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are both neigh- 
boring counties to Somersetshire, in which Glastonbury was 
tlie most sacred and celebrated spot. Visiting that ancient 
abbey. Map w^ould have become acquainted with the legend 
of Joseph of Arimathea in all its details ; and he would 
have seen the altar said to have been transported by angels 
from Palestine, and which, long hidden from mortal sight on 
account of the wickedness of the times, had lately been re- 
vealed and reinstated. His versatile and capacious mind 
would as a matter of course have been familiar with the 
whole Arthur legend as it then (1170-1180) existed, if for no 
other reason because he lived in the very part of England 
which was studded with Arthurian sites. He fully answers 
to the description of the "great clerks" who, according to 
Robert de Boron, first made and told the history of the 
Grail. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 179 

The spread and ascendency to which the Grail conception 
rapidly attained in all Christian countries made the creations 
of Arthurian romance the delight of all cultivated minds. 
From England, which we regard as the land of its origin, 
the Grail legend at once passed to France, where is given in 
metrical dress the legend of Percival, one of the knights of 
the Round Table, under the transformation which the Grail 
conception had effected. Flemish, Icelandic, and Welsh 
reproductions of the Grail romances have been found to 
exist. One of the first employments of the printing press in 
England, France, and Germany was to multiply poems or 
romances embodying this legend. Hence Caxton printed 
for Sir Thomas Malory (148-3) llie History of King Arthur 
and his Noble Knights, a work that has formed the basis of 
Tennyson's Idylls of the King, one of which is The Holy 
Grail. 



From noisefiil arms, and acts of prowess done 
In tournament or tilt, Sir Percivale, 
Whom Arthur and his knighthood called The Pure, 
Had passed into the silent life of prayer. 
Praise, fast, and alms ; and leaving for the cowl 5 
The helmet in an abbey far away 
From Camelot, there, and not long after, died. 



And one, a fellow-monk among the rest, 
Ambrosius, loved him much beyond the rest, 
And honored him, and wrought into his heart 10 
A way by love that wakened love within, 

2. Sir Percivale, the third sou of Pellinore, king of Wales. 
He caught sight of the Holy Grail after his combat with Lance- 
lot's brother, Ector de Maris, and both were healed by it. Sir 
Percivale was with Sir Bors and Sir Galahad when the visible 
Saviour went into the consecrated wafer given them by the 
bishop. This is called the achievement of the quest of the Holy 
Grail. 



180 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

To answer that which came : and as they sat 

Beneath a world-old yew-tree, darkening half 

Tlie cloisters, on a gustful April morn 

That puffed the swaying branches into smoke 15 

Above them, ere the summer when lie died, 

The monk Ambrosius questioned Percivale : 

" brother, I have seen this yew-tree smoke, 
Spring after spring, for half a hundred years: 
For never have I known the world without, 20 

Nor ever strayed beyond the pale : but thee. 
When first thou camest — such a courtesy 
Spake through the limbs and in the voice — I knew 
For one of those who eat in Arthur's hall ; 
For good ye are and bad, and like to coins, 25 

Some true, some light, but every one of you 
Stamped with the image of the King ; and now 
Tell me, what drove thee from the Table Kound, , 
My brother ? was it earthly passion crost ? " 

"Nay," said the knight; "for no such passion 
mine, 30 

But the sweet vision of the Holy Grail 
Drove me from all vainglories, rivalries, 
And earthly heats that spring and sparkle out 
Among us in the jousts, while women watch 
Who wins, who falls ; and waste the spiritual strength 
AVithin us, better offered up to Heaven." 36 

To whom the monk : "' The Holy G-rail ! — I trust 
We are green in Heaven's eyes ; but here too much 

37. To whom the monk said or responded. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 181 

We luoiilder — as to tilings without I mean — 

"^'et one of your own knights, a guest of ours, 40 

Tohl us of this in our refectory, 

But spake with such a sadness and so low 

We heard not half of what he said. What is it ? 

The phantom of a cup that comes and goes ? " 

"]S"ay, monk! what phantom?" answered Per- 
civale. 45 

" The cup, the cup itself, from which our Lord 
Drank at the last sad supper with his own. 
This, from the blessed land of Aromat — 
After the day of darkness, when the dead 
Went wandering o'er Moriah — the good saint, 50 
Arimathean Joseph, journeying brought 
To Glastonbury, where the winter thorn 
Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord. 
And there awdiile it bode ; and if a man 
Could touch or see it, he was healed at once, 55 

By faith, of all his ills. But then the times 

41, refectory, the eatiug-roora of a monastery. 

47. with his own, disciples understood. 

48. Aromat, poetic name of Palestine, because of the abun- 
dance of spices from that region. 

49. day of darkness, referring to the crucifixion and the dead 
coming from their graves. (Matthew xxvii. 52.) 

50. Moriah, the hill on which the temple of Jerusalem was 
built. 

51. Arimathean Joseph, iu whose tomb the body of Jesus 
was laid. {Matthew xxvii. 57.) 

52. Glastonbury. The legend is that Joseph of Arimathea 
stuck his staff into the ground in the "sacred isle of Glaston- 
bury," and that this thorn blossoms on Christmas Day every 
year. St. Joseph and King Arthur were both buried at Glaston- 
bury. 



182 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Grew to such evil that the holy cup 

AVas caught away to Heaven, and disappeared." 

To whom the monk : " From our old books I know 
That Joseph came of old to Glastonbury, 60 

And there the heathen Prince, Arviragus, 
Gave him an isle of marsh whereon to build ; 
And there he built with wattles from the marsh 
A little lonely church in days of yore, 
For so they say, these books of ours, but seem 65 
Mute of this miracle, far as I have read. 
But who first saw the holy thing to-day ? " 

" A woman," answered Percivale, " a nun. 
And one no further off in blood from me 
Than sister; and if ever holy maid 70 

With knees of adoration wore the stone, 
A holy maid ; though never maiden glowed. 
But that was in her earlier maidenhood. 
With such a fervent flame of human love, 
Which being rudely blunted, glanced and shot 75 
Only to holy things ; to i:>rayer and praise 
She gave herself, to fast and alms. And yet, 
Nun as she was, the scandal of the Court, 
Sin against Arthur and the Table Round, 
And the strange sound of an adulterous race, 80 
Across the iron grating of her cell 
Beat, and she prayed and fasted all the more. 

" And he to whom she told her sins, or what 
Her all but utter whiteness held for sin, 

GO. That Joseph came. See introductory note. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 183 

A man wellnigli a liimdred winters old, 85 

Spake often with her of the Holy Grail, 

A legend handed down through five or six, 

And each of these a hundred winters old, 

From our Lord's time. And when King Arthur made 

His Table Eound, and all men's hearts became 90 

Clean for a season, surely he had thought 

That now the Holy Grail would come again ; 

But sin broke out. Ah, Christ, that it would come. 

And heal the world of all their wickedness ! 

' Father ! ' asked the maiden, '■ might it come 95 

To me by prayer and fasting ? ' ' Nay,' said he, 

' I know not, for thy heart is pure as snow.' 

And so she prayed and fasted, till the sun 

Shone, and the wind blew, througli her, and I thought 

She might have risen and floated when I saw her. 100 

" For on a day she sent to speak with me. 
And when she came to speak, behold her eyes 
Beyond my knowing of them, beautiful. 
Beyond all knowing of them, wonderful. 
Beautiful in the light of holiness. 105 

And ' my brother Percivale,' she said, 
' Sweet brother, I have seen the Holy Grail : 
For, Avaked at dead of night, I heard a sound 
As of a silver horn from o'er the hills 
Blown, and I thought, "It is not Arthur's use no 
To hunt by moonlight ; " and the slender sound. 
As from a distance beyond distance grew 
Coming upon me — never harp nor horn, 
Nor aught we blow with breath, or touch with hand, 
A\'as like that music as it came; and then, 115 



184 IDYLLS OF THE KI^'G 

Streamed through my cell a cold and silver beam, 

And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail, 

Eose-red with beatings in it, as if alive, 

Till all the white walls of my cell were dyed 

With rosy colors leaping on the wall ; 120 

And then the music faded, and the Grail 

Past, and the beam decayed, and from the walls 

The rosy quiverings died into the night. 

So now the Holy Thing is here again 

Among us, brother, fast thou too and pray, 125 

And tell thy brother knights to fast and pray, 

That so perchance the vision may be seen 

By thee and those, and all the world be healed.' 

" Then leaving the pale nun, I spake of this 
To all men ; and myself fasted and prayed 130 

Always, and many among us many a week 
Fasted and prayed even to the uttermost, 
Expectant of tlie wonder that would be. 

" And one there was among us, ever moved 
Among us in white armor, Galahad. 135 

135. Galahad. Queen Guinevere says that Sir Lancelot " came 
of the eighth degree from our Saviour, and Sir Galahad is of the 
ninth, . . . and therefore be they the greatest gentlemen of all 
the world." 

Sir Galahad was the only knight who could sit in the " Siege 
Perilous," a seat at the Round Table reserved for the knight 
destined to achieve the quest of the Holy Grail ; and no other 
person could sit in it without peril to his life. His great achieve- 
ment was that of the Holy Grail. It is quite certain that the 
Arthurian legends mean tliat Sir Galahad saw with his bodily 
eyes and touched with his hands "the incarnate Saviour" re- 
produced by the consecration of the elements of bread and wine. 
Others see it by the eye of faith only, but Sir Galahad saw it 



THE HOLY GRAIL 185 

' God make thee good as thon art beautiful, 

Said Arthur, when he dubbed him knight ; and none 

In so young youth was ever made a knight 

Till Galahad ; and this Galahad, when he heard 

My sister's vision, filled me with amaze ; 140 

His eyes became so like her own, they seemed 

Hers, and himself her brother more than I. 

" Sister or brother none had he ; but some 
Called him a son of Lancelot, and some said 
Begotten by enchantment — chatterers they, 145 
Like birds of passage imping up and down, 
That gape for flies — we know not whence they come ; 
For when was Lancelot wanderingly lewd ? 

"But she, the wan sweet maiden, shore away 
Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair 150 
Which made a silken mat-work for her feet ; 
And out of this she plaited broad and long 
A strong sword-belt, and wove with silver thread 
And crimson in the belt a strange device, 
A crimson grail within a silver beam; 155 

And saw the bright boy-knight, and bound it on him. 
Saying, ' My knight, my love, my knight of heaven, 
thou, my love, whose love is one with mine, 
I, maiden, round thee, maiden, bind my belt. 

bodily with his eyes. His shield was that of Joseph of Ari- 
mathea. It was a snow-white shield on which Joseph made a 
cross with his blood. After divers adventures Galahad came 
to Sarras, where he was made king, was shown the Holy Grail 
]>y Joseph, and even " took the Lord's body between his hands " 
aiid died. Then suddenly " a great multitude of angles bear his 
soul up to heaven," since when no man could say he had seen 
the Holy Grail. 



186 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Go forth, for thou shalt see what I have seen, i6o 
And break through all, till one will crown thee king 
Far in the spiritual city : ' and as she spake 
She sent the deathless passion in her eyes 
Through him, and made him hers, and laid her mind 
On him, and he believed in her belief. 165 

" Then came a year of miracle : brother, 
In our great hall there stood a vacant chair, 
Fashioned by Merlin ere he past away, 
And carven with strange -figures ; and in and out 
The figures, like a serpent, ran a scroll 170 

Of letters in a tongue no man could read. 
And Merlin called it ^ The Siege Perilous,' 
Perilous for good and ill ; ' for there,' he said, 
' No man could sit but he should lose himself : ' 
And once by misadvertence Merlin sat 175 

In his own chair, and so was lost ; but he, 
Galahad, when he heard of Merlin's doom, 
Cried, ' If I lose myself I save myself ! ' 

" Then on a summer night it came to pass, 
While the great banquet lay along the hall, 180 

That Galahad would sit down in Merlin's chair. 

" And all at once, as there we sat, we heard 
A cracking and a riving of the roofs, 

168. Fashioned by Merlin. He is said also to have brought 
from Ireland the stones of Stouehenge on Salisbury plain, 
where fhey commemorate Aurelius Ambrosius' victory over 
Vortigern. 

178. See line 450. 

182. And all at once. "Then anon they heard cracking and 



THE BOLT GRAIL 187 

And rending, and a blast, and overhead 

Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry. 185 

And in the blast there smote along the hall 

A beam of light seven times more clear than day*: 

And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail 

All over covered with a luminous cloud, 

And none might see who bare it, and it past. 190 

But every knight beheld his fellow's face 

As in a glory, and all the knights arose, 

crying 01 thunder. In the midst of the blast entered a sun- 
beam more clear by seven times thau the day, and all they were 
alighted of the grace of the Holy Ghost. Then there entered 
into the hall the Holy Grail covered with white samite, but 
there was none- that could see it, nor who bare it, but the whole 
hall was full filled with good odors, and every knight had 
such meat and drink as he best loved in the world, and when 
the Holy Grail had been borne through the hall, then the 
holy vessel departed suddenly, and they wist not where it 
became. 

" Then looked they and saw a man come out of the holy vessel, 
that had all the signs of the passion of Christ, and he said : 
' This is the holy dish wherein I ate the lamb on Sher-Thurs- 
day, and now hast thou seen it; . . . yet hast thou not seen it 
so openly as thou shalt see it in the city of Sarras ; therefore 
thou must go hence and bear with thee this holy vessel, for this 
night it shall depart from the realm of Logris. . . . And take 
with thee . . . Sir Percivale and Sir Bors.' 

" So departed Sir Galahad, and Sir Percivale and Sir Bors with 
him. And so they rode three days, and came to a river, and 
found a ship; . . . and when on board they found in the midst 
the table of silver and the Sancgreall covered with red samite. 
Then Sir Galahad laid him down and slept ; . . . and when he 
woke ... he saw the city of Sarras. ... At the year's end 
... he saw before him the hol^^ vessel, and a man kneeling 
upon his knees in the likeness of the bishop, which had about 
him a great fellowship of angels, as it had been Christ Himself. 
. . . And when he came to the sakering of the Mass, and had 
done, anon he called Sir Galahad, and said unto him, ' Come 
forth, . . , and thou shalt see that which thou hast much 
desired to see.' . . . And he beheld spiritual things . . ." — 
Malonj. 



188 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

And staring each at other like dumb men 
Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vo\y. 

'.' I sware a vow before them all, that I, 195 

Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride 
A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it, 
Until I 'found and saw it, as the nun 
My sister saw it ; and Galahad sware the vow. 
And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot's cousin, sware, 200 
And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights, 
And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest." 

Then spake the monk Ambrosius, asking liim, 
'' What said the King ? Did Arthur take the vow ? '' 
'' x^ay, for my lord," said Percivale, " the King, 205 
Was not in hall : for early that same day, 
Scaped through a cavern from a bandit hold. 
An outraged maiden sprang into the hall 
Crying on help : for all her shining hair 
Was smeared with earth, and either milky arm 210 
Ked-rent with hooks of bramble, and all she wore 
Torn as a sail that leaves the rope is torn 
In tempest : so the King arose and went 
To smoke the scandalous hive of those wild bees 
That made such honey in his realm, Howbeit 213 
Some little of this marvel he too saw 
Returning o'er the plain that then began 
To darken under Camelot ; whence the King 
Looked up, calling aloud ' Lo, there ! the roofs 
Of our great hall are rolled in thunder-smoke ! 220 
Pray Heaven, they be not smitten by the bolt/ 
For dear to Arthur was that hall of ours, 



THE HOLY GRAIL 189 

As having there so oft with all his knights 
Feasted, and as the stateliest under heaven. 

" brother, had you known our mighty hall, 225 
Which Merlin built for Arthur long ago ! 
For all the sacred mount of Camelot, 
And all the dim rich city, roof by roof, 
Tower after tower, spire beyond spire, 
By grove, and garden-lawn, and rushing brook, 230 
Climbs to the mighty hall that jVIerlin built. 
And four great zones of sculpture, set betwixt 
AVith many a mystic symbol, gird the hall. 
And in the lowest beasts are slaying men. 
And in the second men are slaying beasts, 235 

And on the third are warriors, perfect men. 
And on the fourth are men with growing wings. 
And over all one statue in the mould 
Of Arthur, made by Merlin, with a crown. 
And peak'd wings pointed to the Northern Star. 240 
And eastward fronts the statue, and the crown 
And both, the wings are made of gold, and flame 
At sunrise till the people in far fields. 
Wasted so often by the heathen hordes. 
Behold it, crying, 'We have still a King.' 245 

■ " And, brother, had you known our hall within, 
Broader and higher than any in all the lands ! 
Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur's wars. 
And all the light that falls upon the board 
Streams through the twelve great battles of our 
King. 250 

Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end, 



190 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere, 
Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur. 
And also one to the west, and counter to it, 
And blank : and who shall blazon it ? when and 
how ? — 255 

there, perchance, when all our wars are done, 
The brand Excalibur will be cast away. 

" So to this hall full quickly rode the King, 
In horror lest the Avork by Merlin wrought. 
Dreamlike, should on the sudden vanish, wrapt 260 
In unremorseful folds of rolling fire. 
And in he rode, and up I glanced, and saw 
The golded dragon sparkling over all : 
And many of those who burnt the hold, their 

arms 
Hacked, and their foreheads grimed with smoke, 

and seared 265 

Followed, and in among bright faces, ours. 
Full of the vision, prest : and then the King 
Spake to me, being nearest, ' Percivale ' 
(Because the hall was all in tumult — some 
Vowing, and some protesting), ' what is this ? ' 270 

" brother, when I told him what had chanced. 
My sister's vision, and the rest, his face 
Darkened, as I have seen it more than once, 
When some brave deed seemed to be done in 

vain. 
Darken; and ^ Woe is me, my knights,' he. cried, 275 
'Had I been here, ye had not sworn the vow.' 
Bold was mine answer, ' Had thyself been here. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 191 

My King, thou Avouldst have sworn. ^ < Yea., yea,' 

said he. 
' Art thou so bold and hast not seen the Grail ? ' 

" ' :N"ay, lord, I heard the sound, I saw the light, 2S0 
But since I did not see the Holy Thing, 
I sware a vow to follow it till I saw.' 

"Then when he asked us, knight by knight, if 
any 
Had seen it, all their answers were as one : 
'Nay, lord, and therefore have we sworn our vows.' 285 

"'Lo, now,' said Arthur, 'have ye seen a cloud ? 
What go ye into the wilderness to see ? ' 

" Then Galahad on the sudden, and in a voice 
Shrilling along the hall to Arthur, called, 
' But I, Sir Arthur, saw the Holy Grail, 290 

I saw the Holy Grail and heard a cry — 
" Galahad, and Galahad, follow me." ' 

"'Ah, Galahad, Galahad,' said the King, 'for 
such 
As thou art is the vision, not for these. 
Thy holy nun and thou have seen a sign — 295 
Holier is none, my Percivale, than she — 
A sign to maim this Order which I made. 
But ye, that follow but the leader's bell ' 
(Brother, the King was hard upon his knights) 
' Taliessin is our fullest throat of song, 300 

300. Taliessin, son of St. Henwig, chief of the hards of the 
West, in the time of King Arthur. 



192 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And one hath sung and all the dumb will smg. 

Lancelot is Lancelot, and hath overborne 

Five knights at once, and every younger knight, 

Unproven, holds himself as Lancelot, 

Till overborne by one, he learns — and ye, 305 

What are ye? Galahads? — no, nor Perci vales' 

(For thus it pleased the King to range me 

close 
After Sir Galahad) ; ^ nay,' said he, ' but men 
With strength and will to right the wronged, of 

power 
To lay the sudden heads of violence flat, 310 

Knights that in twelve great battles splashed and 

dyed 
The strong White Horse in his owji heathen 

blood — 
But one hath seen, and all the blind will see. 
Go, since your vows are sacred, being made : 
Yet — for ye know the cries of all my realm 315 
Pass through this hall — how often, my knights. 
Your places being vacant at my side. 
This chance of noble deeds will come and go 
Unchallenged, while ye follow wandering tires 
Lost in the qft'^b^ir^! Many of yon. yea most, 320 
Return no more : ye think I show myself 
Too dark a prophet: come now, let us nn^et 
The morrow morn once more in one full held 
Of gracious pastime, that once more the King, 
Before ye leave him for this Quest, may count 325 
The yet-unbroken strength of all his knights, 
Rejoicing in that Order which he made.' 
315. cries, cries lor help. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 193 

" So when the sun broke next from under ground, 
All the great table of our Arthur closed 
And clashed in such a tourney and so full, 330 

So many lances broken — never yet • 
Had Camelot seen the like, since Arthur came : 
And I myself and Galahad, for a strength 
Was in us from the vision, overthrew 
So many knights that all the people cried, 335 ' 

And almost burst the barriers in their heat. 
Shouting, ' Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale ! ' 

"But when the next day brake from under 

ground — 
brother, had you known our Camelot, 
Built by old kings, age after age, so old 340 

The King himself had fears that it would fall, 
So strange, and rich, and dim; for where the 

roofs 
Tottered toward each other in the sky. 
Met foreheads all along the street of those 
Who watched us pass, and lower, and where the 

long 345 

Eich galleries, lady-laden, weighed the necks 
Of dragons clinging to the crazy walls. 
Thicker than drops from thunder, showers of flowers 
Fell as we past ; and men and boys astride 
On wyvern, lion, dragon, griffin, swan, 350 

At all the corners, named us each by name, 
Calling ' God speed ! ' but in the ways below 

328. sun broke next from under ground. See Lancelot and 
Elaine, 1. 413. 

350. On wyvern, a 'u-yvern was a sort of flying serpent. 
o 



194 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

The knights and ladies wept, and rich and j)oor 
Wept, and the King himself could hardly speak 
For grief, and all in middle street the Queen, 355 
Who rode by Lancelot, wailed and shrieked aloud, 
'This madness has come on us for our sins.' 
So to the Gate of the three Queens we came. 
Where Arthur's wars are rendered mystically, 
And thence departed every one his way. 360 

" And I was lifted up in heart, and thought 
Of all my late-shown prowess in ti.;_' lists. 
How my strong lance had beaten down the 

knights, 
So many and famous names ; and never yet 
Had heaven appeared so blue, nor earth so green, 365 
For all my blood danced in me, and I knew 
That I should light upon the Holy Grail. -/ 

"Thereafter, the- dark warning of our King 
That most of us would follow wandering fires. 
Came like a driving gloom across my mind. 370 

Then every evil word I had spoken once, 
And every evil thought I had thought of old. 
And every evil deed I ever did. 
Awoke and cried, 'This Quest is not f()r thee.' 
And lifting up mine eyes, 1 found myself 375 

Alone, and in a land of sand and thorns. 
And I was thirsty even unto death; 
And I, too, cried, ' This Quest is not for thee.' 

"And on I rode, and when I thought my thirst 
Would slay me, saw deep lawns, and then a brook 380 



THE HOLY GRAIL 195 

Witli one sharp rapid, wliere the crisping white 

Phiyed ever back upon the sloping wave, 

And took both ear and eye ; and o'er the brook 

Were apple-trees, and apples by the brook 

Fallen, and on the lawns. ' I will rest here,' 385 

I said, 'I am not worthy of the Quest; ' 

But even while I drank the brook, and ate 

The goodly apples, all these things at once 

Fell into dust, and I was left alone, 

And thirsting, in a land of sand and thorns. 390 

'^ And then behold a woman at a door 
Spinning ; and fair the house whereby she sat. 
And kind the woman's eyes and innocent. 
And all her bearing gracious ; and she rose 
Opening her arms to meet me, as who should say, 395 
' Pvest here ; ' but when I touched her, lo ! she, too. 
Fell into dust and nothing, and the house 
Became no better than a broken shed, 
And in it a dead babe ; and also this 
Fell into dust, and I was left alone. 400 

" And on I rode, and greater was my thirst. 
Then flashed a yellow gleam across the world, 
And where it smote the ploughshare in the field. 
The ploughman left his ploughing, and fell down 
Before it ; where it glittered on her pail, 405 

The milkmaid left her milking, and fell down 
Before it, and 1 knew not why, but thought 
' The sun is rising,' though the sun had risen. 
Then was I ware of one that on me moved 
In golden armor vrith a crown^of gold 41° 



106 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

About a casque all jewels ; and liis horse 

In golden armor jewelled everywhere : 

And on the splendor came, flashing me blind ; 

And seemed to me the Lord of all the world, 

Being so huge. But when I thought he meant 415 

To crush me, moving on me, lo I he, too. 

Oldened his arms to embrace me as he came, 

And up I went and touched him, and he, too, 

Fell into dust, and I was left alone 

And wearying in a land of sand and thorns. 420 

" xind I rode on and found a mighty hill. 
And on the top, a city walled : the spires 
Pricked with incredible pinnacles into heaven. 
And by the gateway stirred a crowd ; and these 
Cried to me climbing, ' Welcome, l*ercivale ! 425 

Thou mightiest and thou purest among men ! ' 
And glad was I and clomb, but found at top 
^o man, nor any voice. And thence I past 
Far through a ruinous city, and I saw 
That man had once dwelt there ; but there [ 

found 43. 

Only one man of an exceeding age. 
' Where is that goodly company,^ said I, 
' That so cried out upon me ? ' and he had 
Scarce any voice to answer, and yet gasped, 
' Whence and what art thou ? ' and even as he 

spoke 435 

Fell into dust, and disappeared, and I 
Was left alone once more, and cried in grief, 
'Lo, if I find the Holy Grail itself 
And touch it, it will crumble into dust.' 



THE HOLY GRAIL 197 

" And thence I clropt into a lowly vale, 440 

Low as the hill was high, and where the vale 
Was lowest, found a chapel, and thereby 
A holy hermit in a hermitage, 
To whom I told my phantoms, and he said : 

'^ ^ son, thou hast not true humility, 445 

The highest virtue, mother of them all ; -. 
For when the Lord of all things made Himself 
Naked of glory for His mortal change, 
" Take thou my robe," she said, " for all is thine," 
And all her form shone forth with sudden light 450 
So that the angels were amazed, and she 
Followed Him down, and like a flying stat- 
Led on the gray-haired wisdom of the east ; \ 

But her thou hast not known : for what is this 
Thou thoughtest of thy prowess and thy sins ? 455 
Thou hast not lost thyself to save thyself 
As Galahad^ When the hermit made an end, 
In silver armor suddenly Galahad shone 
Before us, and against the chapel door 
Laid lance, and entered, and we knelt in prayer. 460 
And there the hermit slaked my burning thirst, 
And at the sacring of the mass I saw 
The holy elements alone ; but he, 
' Saw ye no more ? I, Galahad, saw the Grail, 
The Holy Grail, descend upon the shrine : 465 

I saw the fiery face as of -a child 
That smote itself into the bread, and went ; 
And hither am I come ; and never yet 

463. The holy elements, the bread and wine of the Eucharist 



198 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Hath what tliy sister taught me first to see, 
This Holy Thing, failed from my side, nor come 470 
Covered, but moving with me night and day. 
Fainter by day, but always in the night 
Blood-red, and sliding down the blackened marsh 
Blood-red, and on the naked mountain-top 
Blood-red, and in the sleeping mere below 475 

Blood-red. And in the strength of this I rode. 
Shattering all evil customs everywhere. 
And past through Pagan realms, and made them 

mine. 
And clashed with Pagan hordes, and bore them 

down 
And broke through all, and in the strength of this 480 
Come victor. But my time is hard at hand. 
And hence I go ; and one will crown me king 
Far in the spiritual city ; and come thou, too. 
For thou shalt see the vision when I go.' 

"While thus he spake, his eye, dwelling on 
mine 485 

Drew me, with power upon me, till I grew 
One with him, to believe as he believed. 
Then, when the day began to wane, we went. 

" There rose a hill that none but man could climb. 
Scarred with a hundred wintry watercourses — 490 
Storm at the top, and when we gained it, storm 
Round us and death ; for every moment glanced 
His silver arms and gloomed: so quick and thick 
The lightnings here and there to left and right 

481. Come, tense? 



THE HOLY GRAIL 



199 



Struck, till the dry old trunks about us, dead, 495 

Yea, rotten with a hundred years of death, 

Sprang into fire: and at the base we found 

On either hand, as far as eye could see, 

A great black swamp and of an evil smell, 

Fart black, part whitened with the bones of men, 500 

Not to be crost, save that some ancient king 

Had built a way, where, linked with many a 

bridge, 
A thousand piers ran into the great Sea. 
And Galahad fled along them bridge by bridge, 
A.nd every bridge as quickly as he crost 505 

Sprang into fire and vanished, though I yearned 
To follow ; and thrice above him all the heavens 
Opened and blazed with thunder such as seemed 
Shoutings of all the sons of God : and first 
At once I saw him far on the great Sea, 51° 

In silver-shining armor starry-clear ; 
And o'er his head the holy vessel hung 
Clothed in white samite or a luminous cloud. 
And with exceeding swiftness ran the boat, 
If boat it were —I saw not whence it came. 5^5 

And when the heavens opened and blazed again 
Eoaring, I saw him like a silver star — 
And had he set the sail, or had the boat 
Become a living creature clad with wings? 
And o'er his head the Holy Vessel hung 5^0 

Eedder than any rose, a joy to me, 
For now I knew the veil had been withdrawn. 
Then in a moment Avhen they blazed again 
Opening, I saw the least of little stars 
Down on the waste, and straight beyond the star 525 



200 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

I saw the spiritual city and all lier spires 
And gateways in a glory like one pearl — 
No larger, though the goal of all the saints — 
Strike from the sea ; and from the star there shot 
A rose-red sparkle to the city, and there 530 

Dwelt, and I knew it was the Holy Grail, 
Which never eyes on earth again shall see. 
Then fell the floods of heaven drowning the deep. 
And how my feet recrost the deathful ridge 
iSTo memory in me lives ; but that I touched 535 

The chapel-doors at dawn I know ; and thence 
Taking my war-horse from the holy man. 
Glad that no phantom vexed me more, returned 
To whence I came, the gate of Arthur's wars." 

'' brother," asked Ambrosius, — '' for in sooth 540 
These ancient books — and they would win thee — 

teem, 
Only I find not there this Holy Grail, 
With miracles and marvels like to these, 
Not all unlike ; which oftentime I read. 
Who read but on my breviary with ease, 545 

Till my head swims ; and then go forth and pass 
Down to the little thorpe that lies so close, 
And almost plastered like a martin's nest 
To these old walls — and mingle with our folk ; 
And knowing every honest face of theirs 550 

As well as ever shepherd knew his sheep, 
And every homely secret in their hearts, 
Delight myself with gossip and old wives, 
And ills and aches, and teethings, lyings-in, 
And mirthful sayings, children of the place, 555 



THE HOLY GRAIL 201 

That have no meaning half a league away : 

Or lulling random squabbles when they rise, 

Chafferings and chatterings at the market-cross, 

Rejoice, small man, in this small world of mine, 

Yea, even in their hens and in their eggs — 560 

brother, saving this Sir Galahad, 

Came ye on none but phantoms in your quest, 



No man, no woman ? " 



Then Sir Percivale : 
" All men, to one so bound by such a vow. 
And women were as phantoms. 0, my brother, 565 
Why wilt thou shame me to confess to thee 

T How far I faltered from my quest and vow ? 

w:>Eor after I had lain so many nights, 
A bedmate of the snail and eft and snake. 
In grass and burdock, I was changed to wan 570 
And meagre, and the vision had not come ; 
And then I chanced upon a goodly town 
With one great dwelling in the middle of it; 
Thither I made, and there was I disarmed 
By maidens each as fair as any flower : 575 

But when they led me into hall, behold, 
The Princess of that castle was the one. 
Brother, and that one only, who had ever 
Made my heart leap ; for when I moved of old 
A slender page about her father's hall, 580 

And she a slender maiden, all my heart 
Went after her with longing : yet we twain 
Had never kissed a kiss, or vowed a vow. 
And now I came upon her once again. 
And one had wedded her, and he was dead, 5S5 



202 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And all his land and wealth and state were hers. 

And while I tarried, every day she set 

A banquet richer than the day before 

By me ; for all her longing and her will 

Was toward me as of old; till one fair morn, 590 

I walking to and fro beside a stream 

That flashed across her orchard underneath 

Her castle-walls, she stole upon my walk, 

And calling me the greatest of all knights. 

Embraced me, and so kissed me the first time, 595 

And gave herself and all her wealth to me. 

Then I remembered Arthur's warning word, 

That most of us Avould follow wandering fires, 

And the Quest faded in my heart. Anon, 

The heads of all her people drew to me, 600 

AVith supplication both of knees and tongue : 

' We have heard of thee : thou art our greatest knight. 

Our Lady says it, and we well believe : 

Wed thou our Lady, and rule over us. 

And thou shalt be as Arthur in our land.' 605 

me, my brother ! but one night my vow 

Burnt me within, so that I rose and fled. 

But wailed and wept, and hated mine own self. 

And even the Holy Quest, and all but her; 

Then after I was joined with Galahad 610 

Cared not for her, nor anything upon earth." y 

Then said the monk, "Poor men, when yule is 
cold. 
Must be content to sit by little fires. 

iWl. yule, the yule log, a large log forming the foundation 
of the fire. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 203 

And this am I, so that ye care for me 

Ever so little; yea, and blest be Heaven 615 

That brought thee here to this poor house of ours 

Where all the brethren are so hard, to warm 

:My cold heart with a friend : but the pity 

To find thine own first love once more — to hold, 

Hold her a wealthy bride within thine arms, 620 

Or all but hold, and then — cast her aside, 

Foregoing all her sweetness, like a weed. 

For we that want the warmth of double life, 

We that are plagued with dreams of something 

sweet 
Beyond all sweetness in a life so rich, — 625 

Ah, blessed Lord, I speak too earthly wise, 
Seeing I never strayed beyond the cell. 
But live like an old badger in his earth. 
With earth about him everywhere, despite 
All fast and penance. Saw ye none beside, 630 

None of your knights ? " 

" Yea so," said Percivale : 
'' One night my pathway swerving east, I saw 
The pelican on the casque of our Sir Bors 
All in the middle of the rising moon : 
And toward him spurred, and hailed him, and he me. 
And each made joy of either ; then he asked, 636 
' Where is he ? hast thou seen him — Lancelot ? — 

Once,' 
Said good Sir Bors, 4ie dashed across me — mad. 
And maddening what he rode : and when I cried, 
'' Ridest thou then so hotly on a quest 640 

So holy," Lancelot shouted, '- Stay me not ! 



204 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

I have been tlie sluggard, and I ride apace, 
For now there is a lion in the way." 
So vanished.' 

''Then Sir Bors had ridden on 
Softly, and sorrowing for our Lancelot, 645 

Because his former madness, once the talk 
And scandal of our table, had returned ; 
For Lancelot's kith and kin so worship him 
That ill to him is ill to them ; to Bors 
Beyond the rest : he well had been content 650 

Not to have seen, so Lancelot might have seen, 
The Holy Cup of healing ; and, indeed. 
Being so clouded with his grief and love. 
Small heart was his after the Holy Quest : 
If God would send the vision, well ; if not, 655 

The Quest and he were in the hands of Heaven. 

"And then, with small adventure met. Sir Bors 
Rode to the lonest tract of all the realm. 
And found a people there among their crags. 
Our race and blood, a remnant that were left 660 
Paynim amid their circles, and the stones 
They pitch up straight to heaven : and their wise men 
AVere strong in that old magic which can trace 
The w^andering of the stars, and scoffed at him 
And this high Quest as at a simple thing : 665 

Told him he followed — almost Arthur's words — 

661. Paynim, probably the Druids. Stonehenge oifers an 
instance of their strange religion. Originally it was a circle of 
thirty stones, fourteen feet high. Such circles were called "doom 
rings," and each contained an altar on which victims were offered 
in sacriSce. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 205 

A mocking fire : ' what other fire than he, 
Whereby the blood beats and the blossom blows, 
And the sea rolls, and all the world is warmed ? ' 
And when his answer chafed them, the rough crowd, 
Hearing he had a difference with their priests, 671 
Seized him, and bound and plunged him into a cell 
Of great piled stones ; and lying bounden there 
In darkness through innumerable hours 
He heard the hollow-ringing heavens sweep 675 

Over him, till by miracle — what else ? — 
Heavy as it was, a great stone slipt and fell. 
Such as no wind could move : and through the gap 
Glimmered the streaming scud : then came a night 
Still as the day was loud; and through the gap 680 
The seven clear stars of Arthur's Table Round — 
For, brother, so one night, because they roll 
Through such a round in heaven, we named the stars, 
Rejoicing in ourselves and in our King — 
And these, like bright eyes of familiar friends, 685 
In on him shone : ' And then to me, to me,' 
Said good Sir Bors, ' beyond all hopes of mine. 
Who scarce had prayed or asked it for myself — 
Across the seven clear stars — grace to me — 
In color like the fingers of a hand 690 

Before a burning taper, the sweet Grail 
Glided and past, and close upon it pealed 
A sharp quick thunder.' Afterwards, a maid, 
Who kept our holy faith among her kin 
In secret, entering, loosed and let him go." 695 



To whom the monk : ^^ And I remember now 
That pelican on the casque : Sir Bors it was 



710 



206 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Vv lio spake so low and sadly at our board ; 

And mighty reverent at our grace was he : 

A square-set man and honest ; and his eyes, 700 

An out-door sign of all the warmth within, 

Smiled with his lips — a smile beneath a cloud, 

But heaven had meant it for a sunny one : 

Ay, ay, Sir Bors, who else ? But when ye reached 

The city, found ye all your knights returned, 705 

Or was there sooth in Arthur's prophecy. 

Tell me, and what said each, and what the King?" 

Then answered Percivale : " And that can I, 
Brother, and truly ; since the living words 
Of so great men as Lancelot and our King 
Pass not from door to door and out again, 
But sit within the house. 0, when we reached 
The city, our horses stumbling as they trode 
On heaps of ruin, hornless unicorns, 
Cracked basilisks, and splintered cockatrices, 
And shattered talbots, which had left the stones 
Kaw, that they fell from, brought us to the hall. 

" And there sat Arthur on the dais-throne. 
And those that had gone out upon the Quest, 
Wasted and worn, and but a tithe of them, 
And those that had not, stood before the King, 
Who, when he saw me, rose and bade me hail, 
Saying, 'A welfare in thine eye reproves 
Our fear of some disastrous chance for thee 
On hill, or plain, at sea, or flooding ford. 
So fierce a gale made havoc here of late 

709. sooth, truth. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 207 

Among the strange devices of our kings; 
Yea, shook this newer, stronger hall of ours, 
And from the statue Merliu moulded for us 
Half-wrenched a golden wing ; but now — the Quest, 
This vision — hast thou seen the Holy Cup, 731 

That Joseph brought of old to Glastonbury ? ' 

" So when I told him all thyself hast heard, 
Ambrosius, and my fresh but fixt resolve 
To pass away into the quiet life, 735 

He answered not, but, sharply turning, asked 
Of Gawain, ^Gawain, was this Quest for thee ?'^ 

" 'Nay, lord,' said Gawain, 'not for such as I. 
Therefore I communed with a saintly man, 
Who made me sure the Quest was not for me ; 740 
For I was much awearied of the Quest : 
But found a silk pavilion in a field. 
And merry maidens in it ; and then this gale 
Tore my pavilion from the tenting-pin. 
And blew my merry maidens all about 745 

With all discomfort ; yea, and but for this, 
]My twelvemonth and a day were pleasant to me.' 

" He ceased; and Arthur turned to whom at first 
He saw not, for Sir Bors, on entering, pushed 
Athwart the throng to Lancelot, caught his hand, 750 
Held it, and there, half-hidden by him stood. 
Until the King espied him, saying to him, 
' Hail, Bors ! if ever loyal man and true 
Could see it, thou hast seen the Grail;' and Bors, 
' Ask me not, for I may not speak of it, 755 

I saw it: ' and the tears were in his eyes. 



208 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

" Then there remained but Lancelot, for the rest 
Spake but of sundry perils in the storm ; 
Perhaps, like him of Cana in Holy Writ, 
Our Arthur kept his best until the last ; 760 

' Thou, too, my Lancelot, asked the King, 'my friend. 
Our mightiest, hath this Quest availed for thee?' 

" ' Our mightiest ! ' answered Lancelot, with a 
groan ; 
' King ! ' — and when he paused, meth ought I spied 
A dying fire of madness in his eyes — 765 

' King, my friend, if friend of thine I be, 
Happier are those that welter in their sin. 
Swine in the mud, that canuot see for slime. 
Slime of the ditch : but in me lived a sin 
So strange, of such a kind, that all of pure, 770 

Noble, and knightly in me twined and clung 
Kound that one sin, until the wholesome\flower 
And poisonous grew together, each as each. 
Not to be plucked asunder; and when thy knights 
Sware, I sware with them only in the hope 775 

That could I touch or see the Holy Grail 
They might be plucked asunder. Then I spake 
To one most holy saint, who wept and said. 
That save they could be plucked asunder, all 
My quest were but in vain ; to whom I vowed ySo 
That I would work according as he willed. 
And forth I went, and while I yearned and strove 
To tear the twain asunder in my heart. 
My madness came upon me as of old, 
And whipt me into waste fields far away ; 785 

700. kept his best until the last. See John ii. 1-11. 



THE HOLY GRAIL 209 

Til ere was I beaten down by little men, 

^lean knights, to whom the moving of my sword 

And shadow of my spear had been enow 

To scare them from me once ; and then I came 

All in my folly to the naked shore, 790 

Wide flats, where nothing but coarse grasses grew ; 

But such a blast, my King, began to blow, 

So loud a blast along the shore and sea, 

Ye could not hear the waters for the blast. 

Though heapt in mounds and ridges all the sea 795 

Drove like a cataract, and all the sand 

Swept like a river, and the clouded heavens 

Were shaken with the motion and the sound. 

And blackening in the sea-foam swayed a boat. 

Half-swallowed in it, anchored with a chain ; 800 

And in my madness to myself I said, 

"I will embark and I will lose myself. 

And in the great sea wash away my sin." 

I burst the chain, I sprang into the boat. 

Seven days I drove along the dreary deep, 805 

And with me drove the moon and all the stars ; 

And the wind fell, and on the seventh night 

I heard the shingle grinding in the surge. 

And felt the boat shock earth, and looking up, 

Behold, the enchanted towers of Carbonek, 810 

A castle like a rock upon a rock, 

With chasm like portals open to the sea, 

And steps that met the breaker ! there was none 

Stood near it but a lion on each side 

That kept the entry, and the moon was full. 815 

Then from the boat I leapt, and up the stairs. 

There drew my sword. With sudden-flaring manes 



210 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Those two great beasts rose upright like a man, 
Each gript a shoulder, and I stood between ; 
And, when I would have smitten them, heard a 
voice 820 

" Doubt not, go forward ; if thou doubt, the beasts 
Will tear thee piecemeal." Then with violence 
The sword was dashed from out my hand, and fell. 
And up into the sounding hall I past ; 
But nothing in the sounding hall I saAV, 825 

No bench nor table, painting on the wall 
Or shield of night ; only the rounded moon 
Through the tall oriel on the rolling sea. 
But always in the quiet house I heard. 
Clear as a lark, high o'er me as a lark, 830 

A sweet voice singing in the topmost tower 
To the eastward : up I climbed a thousand steps 
With pain : as in a dream I seemed to climb 
Forever : at the last I reached a door, 
A light was in the cramiies, and I heard, 835 

" Glory and joy and honor to our Lord 
And to the Holy Vessel of the Grail." 
Then in my madness I essayed the door ; 
It gave ; and through a stormy glare, a heat 
As from a seven-times heated furnace, I, 840 

Blasted and burnt, and blinded as I was, 
^Vith such a fierceness that I swooned away — 
( ), yet methought I saw the Holy Grail, 
All palled in crimson samite, and around 
Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes. 845 
And but for all my madness and my sin. 
And then my swooning, I had sworn I saw 
828. tall oriel. Meaning? 



THE HOLY (JEAIL 211 

That which I saw ; but what I saw was veiled 
And covered ; and this Quest was not for me.' 

'' So speaking, and here ceasing, Lancelot left 850 
The hall long silent, till Sir Gawain — nay. 
Brother, I need not tell thee foolish words, — 
A reckless and irreverent knight was he, 
Now boldened by the silence of his King, — 
Well, I will tell thee : ' King, my liege,' he said, 
' Hath Gawain failed in any quest of thine ? 856 
When have I stinted stroke in foughten field ? 
But as for thine, my good friend Percivale, 
Thy holy nun and thou have driven men mad, 
Yea, made our mightiest madder than our least. 860 
But by mine eyes and by mine ears I swear, 
I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat. 
And thrice as blind as any noonday owl, 
To holy virgins in their ecstasies. 
Henceforward.' 

" ' Deafer,' said the blameless King, 
' Gawain, and blinder unto holy things 866 

Hope not to make thyself by idle vows. 
Being too blind to have desire to see. 
But if indeed there came a sign from heaven. 
Blessed are Bors, Lancelot, and Percivale, 870 

For these have seen according to their sight. 
For every fiery prophet in old times. 
And all the sacred madness of the bard, 
When God made music through them, could but speak 
His music by the framework and the chord ; 875 
And as ye saw it ye have spoken truth. 



212 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

^' ^Nay — but thou errest, Lancelot : never yet 
Could all of true and noble in knight and man 
Twine round one sin, whatever it might be, 
With such a closeness, but apart there grew, sSo 
Save that he were the swine thou spakest of. 
Some root of knighthood and pure nobleness ; 
Whereto see thou, that it may bear its flower, 

" ^ And spake I not too truly, my knights ? 
Was I too dark a prophet when I said 885 

To those who went upon the Holy Quest, 
That most of them would follow wandering fires, 
Lost in the quagmire? — lost to me and gone, 
And left me gazing at a barren board, 
And a lean Order — scarce returned a tithe — 890 
And out of those to whom the vision came 
My greatest hardly will believe he saw ; 
Another hath beheld it afar off, 
And leaving human wrongs to right themselves, 
Cares but to pass into the silent life. 895 

And one hath had the vision face to face. 
And now his chair desires him here in vain, 
However they may crown him otherwhere. 

" 'And some among you held, that if the King 
Had seen the sight he would have sworn the vow ; 
Not easily, seeing that the King must guard 901 
That which he rules, and is as but the hind 
To whom a space of land is given to plough. 
Who may not wander from the allotted field 
Before his work be done ; but, being done, 905 

Let visions of the night or of the day 



THE HOLY GRAIL 213 

Come, as they will ; and many a time they come 

Until this earth he walks on seems not earth, 

This light that strikes his eyeball is not light, 

This air that smites his forehead is not air 910 

But vision — yea, his very hand and foot — 

In moments when he feels he cannot die, 

And knows himself no vision to himself, 

Nor the high God a vision, nor that One 

Who rose again : ye have seen what ye have seen.' 

" So spake the King : I knew not all he meant." 916 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 

That story which the bold Sir Bedivere, 

First made and latest left of all the knights, 

Told, when the man was no more than a voice 

In the white winter of his age, to those 

With whom he dwelt, new faces, other minds. 5 

For on their march to westward, Bedivere, 
Who slowly paced among the slnmbering host. 
Heard in his tent the moanings of the King: 

1. The incidents in Arthur's career that immediately pre- 
ceded his death are briefly these : The Queen, Guinevere, had 
left the King's court, and fled to hiding at the nunnery of Ames- 
bury, owing to the discovery by the treacherous Modred, the 
King's nephew, of her love for Lancelot. King Arthur had gone 
to attack Lancelot in the north; during his absence Modred had 
raised a revolt, and had had himself crowned king. The King 
marched south, and pursued Modred to the west coast. On his 
way he stopped at Amesbury, and had the farewell interview 
with the repentant Queen so beautifully described in the Idyll 
of Guinevere. The King then marches w^estward in pursuit of 
Modred. 

2. First made and latest left. Cf . The Coming of Arthur : 

" Then Bedivere, the first of all his knights 
Knighted by Arthur at his crowning." 

3. when the man . . . voice, when extreme old age had left 
Bedivere only strength enough to tell the tale of his past life. 
Cf. the Latin vox et praeterea nihil. 

7. Who slowly . . . King. Bedivere, passing in the quiet 
night through the slumbering camp, overheard Arthur in his 
tent mourning over the failure of his purposes. 
215 



216 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

" I found Him in tlie shining of the stars, 
I marked Him in the flowering of His fields, lo 

But in His ways with men I lind Him not. 
I waged His wars, and now I pass and die. 
me ! for why is all around us here 
As if some lesser god had made the world, 
But had not force to shape it as he would, 15 

Till the High God behold it from beyond, 
And enter it, and make it beautiful ? 
Or else as if the world were wholly fair. 
But that these eyes of men are dense and dim. 
And have not pOwxr to see it as it is : 20 

Perchance, because we see not to the close ; — 

9. I found Him . . . find Him not. Arthur caiuiot understand 
why the glory and power of God should be so clearly manifested 
in the works of nature, in the visible beauty of heaven and 
earth, while His dealings with mankind seem full of mystery 
and contradiction. Arthur had fought in God's cause and 
founded the Round Table for " love of God and men " : was he 
now to die amid the ruins of his life's work? 

13, for why. The expression for lohy, used, as here, as an 
equivalent to the interrogative wherefore, is met with in old ])al- 
lad poetry and in modern imitations of it, as in Cowper's John 
(?i/pm,ii. 211, 212: 

" He lost them sooner than at first ; 
For why ? — they were too big." 

In Harper's Magazine for December 1883, Mrs. Anne Thack- 
eray Ritchie writes, "The first Idyll and the last, I have 
heard Mr. Tennyson say, are intentionally more archaic than 
the others." This archaism is noticeable in the studied severity 
and simplicity of the diction genei-ally as well as in the use of 
such old forms or words as stricken, upheaven, lightly, hest, 
lief; in the repetition of " permanent epithets," whether com- 
posed of single words as in "bold Sir Bedivere," orof whole lines, 
as " Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful; " also in the 
formal introduction to each speech, as 

"Then spake King- Arthur to Sir Bedivere," 
" To him replied the bold Sir Bedivere." 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 217 

For I, being simple^ thouglit to work His will, 

And have but stricken with the sword in vain ; 

And all whereon I leaned in wife and friend 

Is traitor to my peace, and all my realm 25 

Eeels back into the beast, and is no more. 

My. God, thou hast forgotten me in my death : 

Nay — God my Christ — I pass but shall not die." 

Then, ere that last weird battle in the west, 
There came on Arthur sleeping, Gawain killed 30 
In Lancelot's war, the ghost of Gawain blown 
Along a wandering wind, and past his ear 

24. And all . . . peace alludes specially to the treachery of 
Guinevere and Lancelot. 

28. I pass . . . not die. Even in the extremity of his despair 
Arthur has faith in the fulfillment of the prophecy regarding his 
mysterious doom made by Merlin, " the wise man " ; see The 
Coining of Arthur, p. 43, 1. 418: 

" And Merlin in our time 
Hath spoken also, not in jest, and sworn 
Though men may wound him that he will not die, 
But pass, again to come." 

29. weird battle. See the description of the battle, below, 
11. 95-135. 

30. Gawain was brother of Modred and Gareth, and nephew of 
King Arthur, being son of his sister, " Lot's wife, the Queen of 
Orkney, Bellicent." 

30. killed In Lancelot's war. Malory, Morte Darthur, xxi. 2, 
thus describes Ga wain's death : " And then was the noble knight 
sir Gawaine found in a great boate lying more than halfe dead. 
. . . ' My uncle King Arthur,' said sir Gawaine, ' wit ye well 
that my deathes day is come and all is through mine owne hasti- 
nesse and wilfuhiesse, for I am smitten upon the old wound that 
sir Launcelot du Lake gave me, of the which I feele that I must 
die.' And so at the houre of nooue sir Gawaine betooke his 
soule into the hands of our Lord God." 

31. blown . . . wandering wind. lu Dante's Inferno the 
punishment of " carnal sinners" is thus described : 



218 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Went shrilling, " Hollow, hollow all delight ! 
Hail, King ! to-morrow thou shalt pass away. 
Farewell ! there is an isle of rest for thee. 35 

And I am blown along a wandering wind, 
And hollow, hollow, hollow all delight." 
And fainter onward, like wild birds thai change 
Their season in the night and wail their way 
From cloud to cloud, down the long wind the dream 
Shrilled ; but in going mingled with dim cries 41 
Far in the moonlit haze among the hills. 
As of some lonely city sacked by night. 
When all is lost, and wife and child with wail 
Pass to new lords ; and Arthur woke and called, 45 
" Who spake ? A dream. light upon the wind. 
Thine, Gawain, was the voice — are these dim cries 

"The stormy blast of hell 
With restless fury drives the spirits on, 
Whirled round and dashed amain with sore annoy. 
When they arrive before the ruinous sweep, 
There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans. 
And blasphemies 'gainst the good Power in heaven." — Oary. 

35. an isle of rest, " the island-valley of Avilion " of 1. 427. 
So in Homer, Od. xi., the shade of Tiresias foretells to Odys- 
seus: 

"So peaceful shalt thou end thy blissful days 
And steal thyself from life by slow decays.'' — Po/>e. 

39. wail their way. Cf. The Inferno of Dante, quoted 
above : 

"As cranes, 
Chanting their dolorous notes, traverse the sky, 
stretched out in long an-ay, so I beheld 
Spirits ; who came loud waihng, hurried on 
By their dire doom." — Gary. 

41. Shrilled; but . . . cries. Notice the effect of the unusual 
break, denoted by the semicolon, after the first half-foot; the 
reader is brought to a sudden pause, as if to listen to the shrill 
wail of the flying spirit. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 219 

Thine ? or doth all that haunts the waste and wild 
Mourn, knowing it will go along with me ? " 

This heard the bold Sir Bedivere and spake : 50 
" me, my King, let pass whatever will, 
Elves, and the harmless glamour of the field ; 
But in their stead thy name and glory cling 
To all high places like a golden cloud 
For ever : but as yet thou shalt not pass. 55 

Light was Gawain in life, and light in death 
Is Gawain, for the ghost is as the man ; 
And care not thou for dreams from him, but rise — 
I hear the steps of Modred in the west, 

49. go along with me, be involved in my ruin. 

51. let pass . . . field. Bedivere's unimaginative and prac- 
tical nature has no care for anything which he cannot see and 
touch and account for ; all else he regards as of no significance, 
or, at most, as harmless. 

53. thy name ; . . cloud. Cf. The Last Tournament: 

" the knights, 
Gloryhig in each new glory, set his name 
High on all hills and in the signs of heaven ; " 

and To the Queen, at the end of the Idylls : 

" that gray king, whose name, a ghost 
Streams like a cloud, man-shaped, from mountain peak. 
And cleaves to cah-n and cromlech still." 

"Arthur's Seat " is the name given to the lofty hill near Edin- 
burgh, and to other "high places" in various parts of Great 
Britain ; certain cromlechs in Glamorgan and in Herefordshire 
are known as " Arthur's Stones." 

59. Modred. In Guinevere Arthur calls him 

"the man they call 
My sister's son — no kin of mine, who leagues 
. With Lords of the White Horse, heathen and knights, 
Traitors — " 

and again, in 11. 155-156, disclaims kinship with him. Mo- 
dred's character is painted throughout the Idylls in the darkest 



220 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And with him many of thy people, and knigJits 60 
Once thine, whom thou hast loved, but grosser grown 
Than heathen, spitting at their vows and thee. 
Eight well in heart they know thee for the King. 
Arise, go forth and conquer as of old." 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere : 65 

" Far other is this battle in the west 
Whereto we move, than when we strove in youth. 
And brake the petty kings, and fought with Kome, 
Or thrust the heathen from the lloman wall, 
And shook him through the north. Ill doom is mine 
To war against my people and my knights. 71 

The king who fights his people fights himself. 
And they my knights, who loved me once, the stroke 
That strikes them dead is as my death to me. 
Yet let us hence, and find or feel a v/ay 75 

Through this blind haze, which ever since T saw 
One lying in the dust at Almesbury, 
Hath folded in the passes of the world." 

colors. Even iu boyhood his mean and treacherous nature is 
hinted at in contrast with the frankness of tlie young Gawain ; 
see The Coining of Arthur, 11. 322-323: 

" But Modred laid his ear beside the doors, 
And there half-heard." 

77. One lying . . . Almesbury. See Guinevere : 

" prone from off her seat she fell 
And groveled with her face against the floor." 

Ambrose-bviry, Ambresbury, Almesbury, or Amesbury, in Wilt- 
shire, seven and a half miles from Salisbury, possessed an 
ancient abbey of Benedictine nuns, to which, as the old chron- 
icles relate, Guinevere had fled after her fall. 

78. Hath folded . . . world. Has covered my path in life 
with darkness and confusion. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 221 

Then rose the King and moved his host by night, 
And ever pushed Sir Modred, league by league, 80 
Back to the sunset bound of Lyonnesse — 
A land of old upheaven from the abyss 
By fire, to sink into the abyss again; 
Wher,e fragments of forgotten peoples dwelt, 
And the long mountains ended in a coast 85 

Of ever-shifting sand, and far away 
The phantom circle of a moaning sea. 
There the pursuer could pursue no more, 
And he that fled no further fly the King ; 
And there, that day when the great light of heaven 
Burned at his lowest in the rolling year, 91 

On the waste sand by the waste sea they closed. 
Nor ever jQt had Arthur fought a fight 
Like this last, dim, weird battle of the west. 

81. Lyonnesse. A fabulous country, an extension of Corn- 
wall to the south and west, said to be now covered by the sea. 
There is still extant near Land's End a tradition that the Seilly 
Isles were once part of the mainland ; similarly, in parts of Ire- 
laud the belief exists that a large portion of the island was 
swallowed up by the sea and occasionally comes to the surface. 
The name is sometimes written Leonnoys. 

87. phantom circle alludes to the distant sea-horizon, vague 
and ill defiued ; it is called "sea-circle" in Enoch Arden ; cf. 
mysses, 19, 20: 

" Whose margin fades 
For ever and for ever when I move." 

93. Nor ever yet . . . west. Malory's account is as follows: 
" And never was there scene a more dolefuller battaile in no 
Christian land, for there was but rashiug and riding, foyning 
and strickiug, and many a grim word was there spoken either 
to other, and many a deadly stroke. . . . And thus they fought 
all the long day, and never stinted till the noble knights were 
laid to the cold ground: and ever they fought till it was nigh 
night, and by that time was there an hundred thousand laid 
dead upon the doune." 



222 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

A death-white mist slept over sand and sea : 95 

Whereof the chill, to him who breathed it, drew 
Down with his blood, till all his heart was cold 
With formless fear ; and even on Arthnr fell 
Confusion, since he saw not whom he fought. 
Eor friend and foe were shadows in the mist, 100 
And friend slew friend not knowing whom he 

slew ; 
And some had visions out of golden youth, 
And some beheld the faces of old ghosts 
Look in upon the battle ; and in the mist 
NVas many a noble deed, many a base, 105 

And chance and craft and strength in single fights, 
And ever and anon with host to host 
Shocks, and the splintering spear, the hard mail 

hewn, 
Shield-breakings, and the clash of brands, the crash 
Of battle-axes on shattered helms, and shrieks no 
After the Christ, of those who falling down 
Looked up for heaven, and only saw the mist : 
And shouts of heathen and the traitor knights. 
Oaths, insult, filth, and monstrous blasphemies. 
Sweat, writhings, anguish, laboring of the lungs 115 

95. A death-white mist. Contrast with the description of 
"this last, dim, weird battle" the brilliant picture of Arthur's 
first battle in The Coming of Arthur : 

" When Arthur reached a field-of-battle bright 
With pitched pavilions of his foe, the world 
Was all so clear about him, that he saw 
The smallest rock far on the faintest hill. 
And even in high day the morning star." 

These are only two out of numerous occasions that may'' be 
found in .the Idylls when the sympathy of external nature with 
the actions and emotions of man is vividly pictured. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 223 

111 that close mist, and cryings for the liglit, 
]\Ioans of the dying, and voices of the dead. 

Last, as by some one deatli-bed after wail 
Of suffering, silence follows, or through death 
Or deathlike swoon, thus over all that shore, 120 
Save for some whisper of the seething seas, 
A dead hush fell ; but when the dolorous day 
Grew drearier toward twilight falling, came 
A bitter wind, clear from the north, and blew 
The mist aside, and with that wind the tide 125 

Rose, and the pale King glanced across the field 
Of battle : but no man was moving there ; 
Nor any cry of Christian heard thereon. 
Nor yet of heathen ; only the wan wave 
Brake in among dead faces, to and fro 130 

Swaying the helpless hands, and up and down 
Tumbling the hollow helmets of the fallen, 
And shivered brands that once had fought with Rome, 
And rolling far along the gloomy shores 
The voice of days of old and days to be. 135 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere, 
And whiter than the mist that all day long 
Had held the field of battle was the King : 

" nearest thou this great voice that shakes the 

world, 

135. The voice . . . to be. The ocean has frequently been 
used in literature as a symbol of Time and Eternity. Cf . Shaks. : 

"Like as the wTives make towards the pebbled shore 
80 do our minutes hasten to their end ; " 

and Byron's ** Address to the Ocean," Childe Harold, iv. : 

" The image of Eternity." 



224 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And wastes tlie narrow realm whereon we move, 140 

And beats npon the faces of the dead, 

My dead, as though they had not died for me ? — 

O Bedivere, for on my heart hath fallen 

Confusion, till I know not what I am, 

Xor whence I am, nor whether I be King. 145 

Behold, I seem but King among the dead/'* 

Then spake the bold Sir Bedivere : ^^ My King, 
King everywhere ! and so the dead have kings, 
There also will I worship thee as King. 
Yet still thy life is wdiole, and still I live 150 

Who love thee ; but who hates thee, he that brought 
The heathen back among us, yonder stands, 
Modred, unharmed, the traitor of thine house." 

Then spake the King : " My house hath been my 
doom. 
But call not thou this traitor of my house 155 

Who hath but dAvelt beneath one roof with me. 
My house are rather they who sware my vows. 
Yea, even while they brake them, owned me King. 
And well for thee, saying in my dark hour, 
When all the purport of my throne hath failed, 160 
That quick or dead thou boldest me for King. 
King am I, whatsoever be their cry ; 
And one last act of knighthood shalt thou see 
Yet, ere I pass." And uttering this the King 
Made at the man : then Modred smote his liege 165 

148. King everywhere . . . house. Bedivere's simple loyalty 
is no prey to doubt ; his practical temper finds no room for dis- 
cussion while work remains to be done, but insists on prompt 
action with what powers are still available. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 225 

Hard on that helm which many a heathen sword 
Had beaten thin ; while Arthur at one blow, 
Striking the last stroke with Excalibur, 
Slew him, and all but slain himself, he fell, t 

So all day long the noise of battle rolled 170 

Among the mountains by the winter sea; 
Until King Arthur's Table, man by man, 
Had falPn in Lyonnesse about their lord, 
King Arthur. Then, because his wound was deep. 
The bold Sir Bedivere uplifted him, 175 

j^ nd bore him to a chapel nigh the field, 
^A. broken chancel with a broken cross. 
That stood on a dark strait of barren land : 
On one side lay the Ocean, and on one <| 
Lay a great water, and the moon was full. I 180 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Bedivere : 
" The sequel of to-day unsolders all 
The goodliest fellowship of famous knights 

170. So all day long. Xhe original fragment Morte cV Arthur 
began at this point. The lines " So all day long . . . King 
Arthur," which introduced the shorter poem, are here retained, 
to serve, perhaps, as a sort of recapitulation of the lines now- 
prefixed, that the reader's attention may be concentrated on 
the last scene which follows. 

177. chancel. The eastern and most sacred portion of a 
church, formerly always separated from the main part of the 
building by a screen of lattice- work (Lat. cancelli, cross-bars). 

180. a great water. Since the poet wishes to represent the 
general impression produced by the view from the chapel, he 
avoids all detail, and uses the vague words " a water " instead 
of "a lake." The beholder would not at first sight notice 
whether it was a lake or a broad river; all he would be con- 
scious of would be a spreading sheet of water of size and shape 
unknown; and the picture is presented to the reader just as it 
would first strike the eye of Sir Bedivere. 



226 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Whereof this world holds record. Such a sleep 

They sleep — the men I loved. I think that we 185 

Shall never more, at any future time, 

Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds, 

Walking about the gardens and the halls 

Of Camelot, as in the days that were. 

I perish by this people which I made, — 190 

Though Merlin sware that I should come again 

To rule once more ; but, let what will be, be, 

I am so deeply smitten through the helm 

That without help I cannot last till morn. 

Thou therefore take my brand Excalibur, 195 

Which was my pride : for thou rememberest how 

In those old days, one summer noon, an arm 

Eose up from out the bosom of the lake. 

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful, 

Holding the sword — and how I rowed across 200 

And took it, and have worn it, like a king ; 

And, wheresoever I am sung or told 

In aftertime, this also shall be known : 

But now delay not : take Excalibur, 

And fling him far into the middle mere : 205 

Watch what thou seest, and lightly bring me word." 

To him replied the bold Sir Bedivere : 
" It is not meet, Sir King, to leave thee thus, 

191. Merlin. See The Coming of Arthur, note 420. The 
Idyll of Merlin and Vivien gives an account of Merlin's fate. 
See also Matthew Arnold's Tinstram and Iseult. 

205. fling him. Arthur regards the magic sword as a person 
endowed with life and power of its own. mere, lake or pool; 
the word originally meant " that which is dead," hence a desert, 
waste, or stagnant pool; cf. Lat. mare and Skt. maru, a desert, 
from mri, to die; also French ma7'e and English marsh. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 227 

Aidless, alone, and smitten through the helm — 
A little thing may harm a wounded man ; 210 

Yet I thy hest will all perform at full, 
Watch what I see, and lightly bring thee word." 

So saying, from the ruined shrine he stept, 
And in the moon athwart the place of tombs. 
Where lay the mighty bones of ancient men, 215 
Old knights, and over them the sea-wind sang 
Shrill, chill, with flakes of foam. He, stepping down 
By zigzag paths, and juts of pointed rock. 
Came on the shining levels of the lake. 

There drew he forth the brand Excalibur, 220 
And o'er him, drawing it, the winter moon. 
Brightening the skirts of a long cloud, ran forth 
And sparkled keen with frost against the hilt : 
For all the haft twinkled with diamond sparks, 
Myriads of topaz-lights, and jacinth-work 225 

Of subtlest jewellery. He gazed so long 
That both his eyes were dazzled as he stood, 
This way and that dividing the swift mind, 
In act to throw : but at the last it seemed 
Better to leave Excalibur concealed 230 

There in the many-knotted water-flags. 
That whistled stiff and dry about the marge. 
So strode he back slow to the wounded King. 

215. mighty bones. The bones of the Danish invaders heaped 
up iu part of the church building at Hythe are abnormally 
large-sized, and seem to show that " there were giants in those 
days." As noted above, there are still extant traces of ancient 
tombs at Barham-down. 

231. water-flags, aquatic plants of the genus Iris. 

232. So strode he back slow. These words are all accented, 



228 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Then spake King Arthur to Sir Beclivere : 234 
" Hast thou performed my mission which I gave ? 
What is it thou hast seen ? or what hast heard ? " 

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : 
" I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, 
And the wild water lapping on the crag." 

[ To whom replied King Arthur, faint and 
pale : 240 

" Thou hast betrayed thy nature and thy name, 
jSTot rendering true answer, as beseemed 
Thy fealty, nor like a noble knight : 
For surer sign had followed, either hand, 
Or voice, or else a motion of the mere. 245 

This is a shameful thing for men to lie. 
Yet now, I charge thee, cpiickly go again. 
As thou art lief and dear, and do the thing >\ 
I bade thee, watch, and lightly bring me word." j 

\ Then went Sir Bedivere the second time 250 

Across the ridge, and paced beside the mere, 
Counting the dewy ])ebbles, fixed in thought ; 
But when he saw the wonder of the hilt. 
How curiously and strangely chased, he smote 
His palms together, and he cried aloud : 255 

and the line thus becomes heavy and slow to pronounce ; the 
rhythm thus echoes the heavy slow steps of Sir Bedivere. 

238. washing in the reeds . . . lapping on the crag. It has 
been remarked that these two phrases mark exactly " the 
difference of sound produced by water swelling up against a 
permeable or impermeable barrier." The water would splash 
softly through the reeds, but would make a sharper sound when 
striking against the impenetrable rock. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 229 

" And if indeed I cast the brand away, 
Surely a precious thing, one worthy note, 
Should thus be lost for ever from the earth, 
Which might have pleased the eyes of many men.) 
What good should follow this, if this were done ? 
What harm, undone ? Deep harm to disobey, 261 
Seeing obedience is the bond of rule. 
Were it well to obey then, if a King demand 
An act unprofitable, against himself ? 
The King is sick, and knows not what he does. 265 
What record, or what relic of my lord 
Should be to aftertime, but empty breath 
And rumors of a doubt ? But were this kept. 
Stored in some treasure-house of mighty kings, 
Some one might show it at a joust of arms, 270 

Saying, ' King Arthur's sword, Excalibur, 
Wrought by the lonely maiden of the Lake. 
Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps 
Upon the hidden bases of the hills.' 
So might some old man speak in the aftertime 275 
To all the people, winning reverence. 
But now much honor and much fame were lost." 

So spake he, clouded with his own conceit, 
And hid Excalibur the second time, 
And so strode back slow to the wounded King. 2S0 

Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily : 
" What is it thou hast seen ? or what hast heard ? " 

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : 
" I heard the water lapping on the crag 
And the long ripple washing in the reeds." 285 



230 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath: 
"Ah, miserable and unkind, untrue, 
Unknightly, traitor-hearted ! Woe is me ! 
Authority forgets a dying king, 
Laid widowed of the power in his eye 290 

That bowed the will, I see thee what thou art, 
For thou, the latest left of all my knights, 
In whom should meet the offices of all. 
Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt ; 
Either from lust of gold, or like a girl 295 

Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes. 
Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice, 
And the third time may prosper, get thee hence : 
But, if thou spare to fling Excalibur, 
I will arise and slay thee with mv hands." 300 

; -^ 

I Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran. 
And, leaping down tlie ridges lightly, plunged 
Among the bulrush beds, and clutched the sword. 
And strongly wheeled and threw it. The great brand 
Made lightnings in the splendor of the moon, 305 
And flashing round and round, and whirled in an 

arch. 
Shot like a streamer of the northern morn, 
Seen where the moving isles of winter shock 
By night, with noises of the Northern Sea/ 
So flashed and fell the brand Excalibur : 310 

But ere he dipt the surface, rose an arm 

308. moving isles of winter, floating icebergs. Observe how 
the poet in three lines presents a complete picture of one of 
nature's grandest phenomena, thus introducing a most vivid 
simile without interrupting the flow of the narrative. Notice 
the compression of style. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 231 

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful, 
And caught him by the hilt, and brandished him 
Three times, and drew him under in the mere. 
And lightly went the other to the King. 315 

Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath : 
" Now see I by thine eyes that this is done. 
Speak out : what is it thou hast heard, or seen ? " 

And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere : 
" Sir King, I closed mine eyelids, lest the gems 320 
Should blind my purpose, for I never saw. 
Nor shall see, here or elsewhere, till I die, 
Not though I live three lives of mortal men, 
So great a miracle as yonder hilt. 
Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him ; 
But when I looked again, behold an arm, 326 

Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful. 
That caught him by the hilt, and brandished him 
Three times, and drew him under in the mere." 

And answer made King Arthur, breathing hard : 
" My end draws nigh ; 'tis time that I w^ere gone. 331 
Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight. 
And bear me to the margin ; yet I fear 
My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die." 

So saying, from the pavement he half rose, 335 
Slowly, with pain, reclining on his arm. 
And looking wistfully with wide blue eyes 
As in a picture. Him Sir Bedivere 

338. As in a picture, as the eyes of a painted portrait often 
have a fixed and expectant gaze. 



232 IDYLLS OF THE KIXG 

Kemorsefully regarded through his tears, 
And would have spoken, but he found not words ; 
Then took with care, and kneeling on one knee, 341 
O'er both his shoulders drew the languid hands. 
And rising bore him through the place of tombs. 

But, as he walked. King Arthur panted hard, 
Like one that feels a nightmare on his bed 345 

When all the house is mute. So sighed the King, 
Muttering and murmuring at his ear, " Quick, quick I 
I fear it is too late, and I shall die." 
But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge, 
Clothed with his breath, and looking, as he walked, 
Larger than human on the frozen hUls. 351 

He heard the deep behind him, and a cry 
Before. His own thought drove him like a goad. 
Dry clashed his harness in the icy caves 
And barren chasms, and all to left and right 355 
The bare black cliff clanged round him, as he based 
His feet on juts of slippery crag that rang 
Sharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels — 
And on a sudden, lo ! the level lake. 
And the long glories of the winter moon. 360 

345. nightmare, a fiend or witch supposed to cause evil 
dreams. Skelton lias " Medusa, that mare " (i.e., that liag). 

350. Clothed with his breath, enveloped as by a cloak in a 
mist caused by his own damp breath clinging round him in the 
frosty air. 

351. Larger than human. Cf. the Idyll of Guinevere : 

"The moony vapor rolling round the King, 
Who seemed the phantom of a giant in it, 
Enwound him fold by fold." 

354. harness. Originally, as here, body armor. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 233 

Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, 
Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern, 
Beneath them ; and descending they were ware 
That all the decks were dense with stately forms, 
Black-stoled, black-hooded, like a dream — by these 
Three queens with crowns of gold: and from them 
rose 366 

A cry that shivered to the tingling stars, 
And, as it were one voice, an agony 
Of lamentation, like a wind that shrills 
All night in a waste land, where no one comes, 370 
Or hath come, since the making of the world. 

Then murmured Arthur, " Place me in the barge." 
So to the barge they came. There those three queens 
Put forth their hands, and took the King, and wept. 
But she, that rose the tallest of them all 375 

And fairest, laid his head upon her lap. 
And loosed the shattered casque, and chafed his 

hands. 
And called him by his name, complaining loud, 

365. Black-stoled. The stole was a long loose robe reaching 
to the feet. Cf. Sir Galahad, " In stoles of white." With this, 
description contrast that of the ship in The Coming of Arthur, 
11. 374-375 : 

" and all from stem to stern 
Bright with a shining people on the decks." 

366. Three queens. See The Coming of Arthur, 11. 275-278: 

" three fair queens, 
Who stood in silence near his throne, the friends 
Of Arthur, gazing on him, tall with bright 
Sweet faces, who will help him at his need." 

Malory says, "One was King Arthur's sister, Queen Morgan le 
Fay ; the other was the Queen of Northgales ; the third was the 
Queen of the Waste Lands." 



234 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

And dropping bitter tears against a brow 

Striped with dark blood : for all his face was white 

And colorless, and like the withered moon 381 

Smote by the fresh beam of the springing east ; 

And all his .greaves and cnishes dashed with drops 

Of onset ; and the light and lustrous curls — 

That made his forehead like a rising sun 3S5 

High from the dais-throne — were parched with dust; 

Or, clotted into points and hanging loose, 

Mixed with the knightly growth that fringed his lips. 

So like a shattered column lay the King ; 

Not like that Arthur who with lance in rest, 390 

From spur to plume a star of tournament, 

Shot through the lists at Camelot, and charged 

Before the eyes of ladies and of kings. 

Then loudly cried the bold Sir Bedivere : 
" Ah ! my Lord Arthur, whither shall I go ? 395 
Where shall I hide my forehead and my eyes ? 
For now I see the true old times are dead. 
When every morning brought a noble chance. 
And every chance brought out a noble knight. 
Such times have been not since the light that led 

o83. greaves, armor for tlie lower part of the legs: deri- 
vation uncertain, cuishes, armor for the thighs; Lat. coxa, 
Ihigh. dashed with drops Of onset, splashed with drops of 
blood from the encounter. Cf. The Princess : 

" Thonjrh dashed with death, 
He reddens what he kisses." 

400. the light . . . myrrh. Arthur is compared with the star 
in the East which appeared at Christ's birth to the Magi, or 
Wise Men, and led them to Bethlehem, where they presented to 
the new-born Child offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
See Bible, Matthew ii. 11. 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 235 

The holy Eklers with the gift of myrrh. 401 

But now the whole Round Table is dissolved 

Which was an image of the mighty world, 

And I, the last, go forth companionless, 

And the days darken round me, and the years, 405 

Among new men, strange faces, other minds." 

And slowly answered Arthur from the barge : 
" The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 
And God fulfils himself in many ways. 
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 410 
Comfort thyself : what comfort is in me ? 
I have lived my life, and that which I have done 
May He within himself make pure ! but thou, 
If thou shouldst never see my face again, 
Pray for my soul. f^Iore things are wrought by 

prayer 415 

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy 

voice 
Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 
For what are men better than sheep or goats 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 420 

403. image of the mighty world. " Also Merlin made the 
Round Table in tokening of the roundness of the world, for by 
the Round Table is the world signified by right. For all the 
world, Christian and heathen, repair unto the Round Table, and 
when they are chosen to be of the fellowship of the Round 
Table, they think them more blessed and more in worship than 
if they had gotten half the world." — IfaZor?/. The belief that 
the world was in form round and fiat, like the top of a round 
table, prevailed even after the globe had been circumnavigated. 
See Columbus : 

" for at last their Highnesses 
Were half-assured this earth might be a sphere." 



236 IDYLLS OF THE KING 

Both for themselves and those who call them 

friend ? 
For so the whole round earth is every way 
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. 
But now farewell^ I am going a long way 
With these thou seest — if indeed I go 425 

(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt) — 
To the island-valley of Avilion ; 
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, 
Nor ever wind blows loudly ; but it lies 
Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard Jawns 
And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea, 431 
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound." 

So said he, and the barge with oar and sail 
Moved from the brink, like some full-breasted swan 
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death, 435 

Kuffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood 
With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere 
Revolving many memories, till the hull 
Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn, 
And on the mere the wailing died away. 440 

But when that moan had past for evermore, 
The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn 
Amazed him, and he groaned, "The King is gone." 
And therewithal came on him the weird rhyme, 
" From the great deep to the great deep he goes." 

Whereat he slowly turned and slowly clomb 446 
The last hard footstep of that iron crag : 
Thence marked the black hull moving yet, and 
cried, 



THE PASSING OF ARTHUR 237 

''He passes to be King among the dead, 

And after healing of his grievous wound 450 

He comes again ; but — if he come no more — 

me, be yon dark queens in yon black boat, 

AVho shrieked and wailed, the three whereat we 

gazed 
On that high day, when, clothed with living light. 
They stood before his throne in silence, friends 455 
Of Arthur, who should help him at his need ? '^ 

Then from the dawn it seemed there came, but 
faint 
As from beyond the limit of the world. 
Like the last echo born of a great cry. 
Sounds, as if some fair city were one voice 460 

Around a king returning from his wars. 

Thereat once more he moved about, and clomb 
Even to the highest he could climb, and saw. 
Straining his eyes beneath an arch of hand. 
Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King, 
Down that long water opening on the deep 466 

Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go 
From less to less and vanish into light. 
And the new sun rose bringing the new year. 

468. And the new . . . new year. The cycle of the mystic 
years is now complete from Arthur's birth — 

" that same night, the night of the new year, 
Was Arthur born — 

to his passing away before the dawn of another new year, and 
from this point 

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new." 



H 489 85 I 



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